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.)
Ah, yes, never fails -- the Special Revelation gambit.
Shall we list all the ministers who have derailed themselves by "doing that which is right in their own eyes"? By getting a SPECIAL "Revelation", a "new" gospel?
No, better not. There aren't enough bits in the universe to contain a list that long!
SCRIPTURE SAYS--BLESSED ARE THE PEACE MAKERS. JESUS SAID THAT.
Careful now, you're treading on thin ice.
I seem to recall something else, too; something about those who cry "peace, peace, when there is no peace."
You are flaying madly at anything -- anything, and every one -- that you perceive as a threat to your cultmaster. This is very dangerous territory for anyone with a soul, who believes she is a Christian, who claims to believe the Bible. You are at a fork in the road. Choose wisely, you cannot serve two masters.
Look, dear, if you want to play Amateur Torquemada, then don't go playing coy games when the targets of your inquisition demand a two-way street.
Either deal with your opponents by reasoning with them, or ignore them, but don't you DARE try to censor us.
If you cannot win a debate on the merits, then how dare you try to censor those who have bettered you!
What astronomical gall!
And for Your Royal Information, I have been posting on matters regarding this charlatan for perhaps ONE DAY.
If that is too much for you to bear, then I suggest you try growing a bit of a thicker skin, because more and more people are waking up to the damage he's doing, and they've had it up to here with it! And they will NOT be silenced!
And if by some cockamamie stroke of fortune you DO manage to silence people here, well, it's a BIG Internet, toots. You might want to keep that in mind.
The more you try to silence someone, the more intent they become on getting their message out.
You keep referring to your targets as "dogs".
That is a particularly Islamic trait, based on my observation. Have you once worn the Burkha?
Wow, this is beyond surreal.
I can think of only ONE person who has persisted in leveling a barrage of personal attacks in this thread -- and that's YOU!
You are flaying madly at anything -- anything, and every one -- that you perceive as a threat to your cultmaster. This is very dangerous territory for anyone with a soul, who believes she is a Christian, who claims to believe the Bible. You are at a fork in the road. Choose wisely, you cannot serve two masters.
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whhhhhooooooooooooooooaaaa
1. Don't recall flaying at all. Certainly not madly. Certainly not at anything. Certainly not at everyone [that is much more another group's SOP]. But, hey, nice personal assault and personal set of specific accusations.
2. MY "cult" "master?"
BALDERDASH TO THE MAX.
The LORD JESUS THE CHRIST alone is my Master--as He well knows given the many long dark nights of the soul and fiery furnaces He's led me through to get me to that state. LOL.
I'd have thought folks with discernment would have easily detected that. Maybe the . . . fleshly version of discernment just doesn't make the grade or for very long or very well?
I don't consider folks teaching, preaching, abiding by--especially mostly--the basic tenets of Christianity to be cultists. I'm skeptical Christ does either.
3. "for anyone with a soul." vs what/who--me? Ahhhhh, so now, I'm considered to probably be a . . . what . . . a monkey? Oh, I know--a baboon! Been called worse.
4. "she?" Not the last time I checked my vasectomy.
Goodness--given such gross errors about me, no wonder so many are so off the deep end about RW. Sheesh!
5. I chose my Lord and Master a long time ago. He's been helping me deepen the loyalty, relationship, love for decades since. PTL AND BLESS HIS PRECIOUS NAME, FOR THAT.
6. Perhaps wholesale erroneous destructive broadsides would be more fittingly hurled at someone else.
You spoke in grand sweeping generalities, and then complain when asked to clairify a point?
Sheesh!
Acolyte: "Rick Warren is a Saint! A Mighty Man of God!"
Critic: "Oh, then what about..."
Acolyte: "STOP NITPICKING! UNFAIR!"
Critic: "Um, whatever."
You're really struggling here to make a case for your view.
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Not really. I merely toss out food for thought
FOR THOSE WHO CARE TO THINK and consider reality vs inuendos, false accusations, differences of opinions on mostly minor stuff etc.
It's abundantly clear that there's 0.0000000000000000000000% chance of changing the minds and less the hearts of Jr Accusers. I don't really write to them anyway. They are merely foils for what I have to say to lurkers.
I haven't found discernment worth a hoot even when added together as a sum and multiplied many times over . . . in the whole lot of the . . .
You keep referring to your targets as "dogs".
= = =
I like it better when folks tell the TRUTH about me as well as about RW.
Straw dogs has always been a reference to ARGUMENTS, IDEAS, PERSPECTIVES, POSITIONS etc.
That was obvious.
Therefore, twisting it to a personal assault is interesting.
It is not hair-splitting. It is twisting the very Wod of God, and deceiving people...including unbelievers - giving them a false sense of the Kingdom. It is anything but trivial.
Good grief, get over yourself already.
All you listed and more. I don't see how anyone can defend his actions.
You've proven my point.
A good church is hard to find.
Ever get the feeling that this is one of Rick's own staffers? These people remind me of the followers of Jim Jones in Guyana. They would drink the Kool-Aid rather than look at the problem.
Very true! These days when you even mention the word “sin”, someone will always chime in with “Jesus “hung out” with sinners” “Jesus ate with sinners” as if He somehow condoned it.
Interesting! Thanks.
I have quickly discovered this is the gauge many people are using. "Rick Warren has sold "X" number of books. Obviously he's doing something right!" As if that is some indication. The Spice Girls sold a lot of records in the 90's. All it tells me is some people will fall for anything.
Some of us get our "prissy notions" from the Bible.
We're not going by YOUR book.
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