Could California pastor Rick Warren possibly be everywhere at once?
It sure seems like it. There may be no escaping Warren’s new campaign to stamp his vision of civil Christian discourse and social action on world culture.
You probably just saw him, maybe in August when he interviewed both presidential candidates on moral and social questions at his televised Saddleback Civil Forum.
Mike Horton is correct. The picture of Rick Warren with the president says it all. Reminds me of a quote I heard recently; ” The price of admission to the White House in terms of compromising your theology is very high”. I suggest any Christian brand be viewed with suspicion, whether it is “pupose driven” or “Willow Creek”, or “Alpha”.
I respect Rick Warren tremendously as an individual and don’t doubt he will accomplish much in the way of good works. He did a great job with the interviews with the two presidential candidates. Just don’t rely on him to spread the Gospel.
Jimmy,
Christian movements start under the guidance of the Holy Spirit (or at least, that is the hoped for conclusion). However, whenever humans are involved, the movement will eventually go off track.
We saw this with the Charismatic renewal, which eventually turned into feelings/gifts trump Scripture, and even Alpha, which instead of an intro to Christianity for seekers became a ‘requirement’ for membership into a congregation (as it is at St. Peter’s, unfortunately).
I went through the Charismatic Renewal when there was still an emphasis on checking the message against the Word, and left when the feelings took over. One couple even announced at prayer meeting “God is telling us that we need to get a divorce.” No matter that God has said in His Word, written, that he “hates divorce”, they ‘felt’ it was right, and confirmed, so they were going ahead. That’s just one example.
With Rick Warren, I went through the first day of the “Purpose Driven Life” with his book on one side, and the Bible on the other. When I saw how he’d taken Scripture out of context to prove his theology, I abandoned it.
I won’t go into Alpha here. Let’s just say I have some issues with the course — and yes, I went through the entire course.
Jim Elliott
Florida
I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but I REALLY recommend reading Michael Horton’s book Christless Christianity. He nails the problems with the “American” church which focuses on what we do (Law) instead of what God has done for us (Gospel).
These comments truly sadden me. A true Christian would pray for this guy (Warren) rather than attempt to confess his sins for him.
Just because you have a problem with Warren, or Alpha, does not mean that God has a problem with them. Are they perfect? Probably not, but the comments here are further from Christ than their targets.
What a sorry state we are all in. Lord have mercy on us all.
Rick,
We are called to judge a program or a ministry by their fruits. Paul tells us to ‘test the spirits’ to see if they are from God — or not. It is not just a suggestion, it is a DUTY.
I have seen SO many programs come and go in church circles, everything from ‘the Road Less Travelled’ (which the author acknowledged is based on Mormon Theology in an interview with “the Wittenberg Door”) to the Enneagram (of which a careful examination reveals it’s occultist roots).
Just because a program has a following does NOT mean God is pleased with its inclusion. Both these programs I mentioned were hailed as the ‘next great thing’ in church movements, and both had serious theological flaws that make them unsuited for Christian practice.
Warren’s “Purpose Driven Life” plays fast and loose with Scripture and context, so much so that he goes after paraphrases that change the plain meaning of the text (a challenge: take his text and look up his chosen version with a good translation or two of the same text and see for yourself — that’s what I did). And that makes it suspect for ME.
And did anyone say we are NOT praying for Rick Warren? I don’t think so.
Peace to you!
Jim Elliott <>< Florida
[i] Warren’s “Purpose Driven Life†plays fast and loose with Scripture and context [/i] —#5
So does Oswald Chambers’ devotional classic, My Utmost for His Highest. Chambers often uses phrases from scripture to make his own points, which don’t necessarily fit the meaning and context of the original. That’s no sufficient reason to dismiss the book.
Irenaeus,
I know OF that book, but I have never used it for devotionals. I even brought a copy home from the donation pile at the library about a year ago, but I was unimpressed so it sits on the shelf next to my unused King James Version (again, it leaves me dry. I’ve never been much on “foreign” languages).
Since I’ve never used it, and it was in ‘like new’ shape, and am considering giving it to the prison ministry at our church to give away to those who want it, along with a few Bibles I haven’t used in a while, since settling on the ESV.
For devotionals, I have been using a combination of “Celtic Daily Prayer: Prayers and Readings From the Northumbria Community” and Ray Simpson’s “A Holy Island Prayer Book”. Both are available from Amazon.
But frankly, I think there is a [b]BIG[/b] difference between a book designed for PRIVATE devotions vs a program designed for the entire congregation’s uncritical participation, and in some sense, requires a mass ‘buy in’ of the author’s theology and methodology.
Again, frankly, I never ‘buy in’ uncritically of any program or course of study, but prefer to study it first for orthodox theology before going into it myself. I’ve seen too much paganism/secularism passed off as Christian in the past. Once burned, twice shy, as they say.
But balance and trust are needed in a church-pastor relationship: Too much criticism can lead to the rejection of any program, too little to the acceptance of anything. As for PDL, no thanks.
Peace
Jim Elliott <>< Florida