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.)
To believers it was said, 'Foresake not the gathering together of yourselves.'
i am confusing nothing. The 'method' was the message in many instances in the PDC.
Heresy begats heresy, plain and simple. BTW, what i think of as the "message" also happens to be the report of many respected Christian teachers and apologists. It appears as if you need to do your homework.
"Heresy begats heresy, plain and simple."
It uses small group bible studies. It uses graded curriculum to move people to maturity and thoroughly involved in the church and ministries. It helps people identify their giftedness so they can be effective workers. It encourages fellowship and evangelism. I encourages friendly greeting and atmosphere for visitors. It has a strong followup program for visitors. How is that any different than what churches are doing today? Where is the heresy?
RE: Warren's trip to Syria
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2006/decemberweb-only/151-53.0.html
World Net Daily columnist Joseph Farah has been hugely critical of your trip to Syria and your explanations, suggesting that you exhibit behavior "bordering on sociopathic." What's your reaction?
This is a fellow who's hooked his star to criticizing somebody. There's so many over-the-top things about it. There are lots of churches in Damascus [Syria]. I asked one person. He said maybe two or three hundred in Damascus. Most of them are the traditional churches. There's Syrian Orthodox and there's Greek Orthodox. But I met with the head of the evangelicals. He said they're getting ready to go into the building program because the Presbyterian church he leads—they've run out of space.
I will go anywhere in the world if I'm allowed to preach the gospel without hindrance. I'd go to Iran; I'd go to Syria; I'd go to North Korea. A lot of the criticisms have come from people who politicize the Christian faith. To them, politics is more important than winning people to Christ. In fact, I think one of the greatest damages to the church in the last 20 years has been the politicization of the church. I'm also tired of the church being known simply as a political tool and being co-opted by politicians.
"I like you and remember you"
Darn, I made a New Years resolution to be transparent but it looks like my facade is still up. I promise to go back and try harder to be my real self.
Thank you for starting my New Year off well. I won't disappoint you, too much.
Thanks.
"Scape Goat"
Seriously, and I really, really mean it. Let's let Warren off the hook this year. He earned the "Hezekiah" award for last year having lived beyond his 15 minutes of fame and brought disaster to the cause much like Hezekiah did with Manasseh.
Why don't we nominate a couple of church leaders for the award and see how they pan out during the year. No fair nominating Ted Haggard, He is last year's news. I think the guy that took over Adrien Rogers' Church might be one to watch. He looks like he could really do some damage.
Rick Warren doesn't take a salary. After his book took off he went to Saddleback and asked them to calculate how much they had paid him since he worked there. When they gave him the figure, he wrote that amount back to the church. Rick Warren also tithes 90% to his church and does not take a salary.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2006/decemberweb-only/151-53.0.html
[... the fruits are sadly lacking...]
Yes, but the nuts make up for it. (snark)
Who does Rick Warren answer to in regards to how his church spends money?
I heard him say that in one of the interviews on Fox.
[...Can't we find another scape goat to challenge our inertia?...]
You RRRRRRRRRRROCK!!!
[...what happens if you bring in members to "that" church, who are NOT members of "the" church?...]
Uh... Evangelism?
Look, you don't think that i can see your paltry attempts to "dialogue to concensus"? There is nothing to discuss.
Rick Warren's presuppositions were largly heretical and blasphemous. There is little to nothing of value to his books, and the fruits of the ministry are largly nonexistent and exaggerated.
You are trying to establish common ground to persuade people here to accept Warren's heresy as "contemporary Evangelicalism" and call him 'brother'.
Got news for you Sparky, Ain't gonna happen
If you have been unable to find any heresy in Warren's books, than i suggest that you study your bible, compare it to what Warren has written, and spend a bit less time on internet chat sites.
I don't know the type of church government Saddleback has. It may be the same as Crystal Cathedral. I think there is a board of governors or elders.
So, then, I take it that Hillary Clinton, wife of "Born-Again Christian" Bill Clinton, can count on your vote?
(Pinch me, someone, when we're off this rollercoaster and back through the looking glass!)
"than i suggest that you study your bible, compare it to what Warren has written, and spend a bit less time on internet chat sites."
You know, I really tried to do that but that busybody Dr. E. keeps pinging me to these debates. Tell you what, I have an important argument in court tomorrow, oops, it's today already, so I will leave Warren to you.
What?
Because many of it's presuppositions and propositions are blasphemous and/or heretical.Do the tautological diagram for yourself. Erronious presuppositions do not yeild true conclusions unless the reasoning as also false.
I suppose next you'd have us believe that it's wrong for Warren's church to baptize people who are "living in sin" with each other?
Is your god SO small that he cannot sanctify fornication and adultery?
I don't know whether to laugh or cry, so I guess I'll cry, since it seems pretty obvious that Warren must be laughing his tuckus off watching his devoted followers defending him as if he were a minister of the Gospel. It is truly surreal to see mass psychology at werk in such a dramatic manner.
Christians, devoted to the defense of a guy who mixes the Gospel with everything from baptism of openly fornicating "couples", to acceptance of Muslim conversion, to... aw, nuts, the list seems to go on forever, yet no matter how much you point out, they put their fingers in their ears and go yada yada yada, our minds are made up, and Warren's Our Man. Can't reason with that kind of logic!
If nothing else, this ought to be a chilling lesson to the rest of us, lest we, in the words of that old fogey Paul, "make a shipwreck of [our] lives" too.
And let this also be a lesson in the need to ensure that "baby Christians" are grounded in the basics of the faith, instead of "bathed in 'love' nonstop 24/7". Salvation is NOT "party-time"!
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