One thing Rick Warren has said that should be heeded is:
“People without conviction often mindlessly follow the crowd.”1
Yes they do, to their own detriment. People would be far better served to heed God’s Holy Scriptures rather than to mindlessly follow what the many approve.
“Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14)
“There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” (Proverbs 16:25 & 14:12)
The masses are following leaders who are imitating the serpent’s subtilty in the Garden of Eden. The serpent enticed Eve to rethink what God had said and meant. She heeded his words and then noticed that contrary to what God had said about needing to abstain from the delicacies of the tree, it was actually “good for food,” “pleasant to the eyes,” and “to be desired to make one wise” (see Genesis 2:17 and 3:1-7).
Now, in essence, the crafty leaders are saying these same things about the delicacies of the world: “Yea, hath God said, ‘Be ye separate,’ and, ‘Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God?’ Look, rather, how unity with the world is good for food for the poor. And it is pleasant to the eyes: the ways of the world ‘work’ because they are fun and entertaining and hold people’s attention longer, thereby increasing numbers and income. This allows so much more to be accomplished for God. And humbly learning from the world and its different perspectives and religious faiths is to be desired to make us wise and better able to accomplish our goals of reaching the world for Jesus.”
It used to be that faithfulness to God turned the world upside down (e.g., see Acts 17:6). Now faithfulness to the world is turning Christianity upside down. We are to walk worthy of God, not worthy of the world!
“I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright: no man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? every one turned to his course, as the horse rusheth into the battle. Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the Lord. How do ye say, We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us? Lo, certainly in vain made he it; the pen of the scribes is in vain. The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have rejected the word of the Lord; and what wisdom is in them?… For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.… We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health, and behold trouble!” (Jeremiah 8:6-9, 11, 15)
The uniting masses in today’s world and Christianity are being driven into the darkness of the broad way, which rejects that the Lord Jesus Christ came to “bear witness unto the truth” (John 18:37) and to call “sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:32). This so-called “attack” is how God seeks to bless the world.
“Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.” (Acts 3:26)
“And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations …” (Luke 24:47)
Although leaders today are doing the opposite of bearing witness unto the truth and calling sinners to repentance, they nevertheless claim to be “leading like Jesus.”
The Lord Jesus Christ makes it very clear how futile it is to put works in His name above the truth and obedience of His Word (e.g., see Matthew 7:21-27). Naming God’s name or calling oneself a “child of God” or a “Christian” apart from the faith and obedience of the truth is nothing more than taking the name of God in vain. It is to no purpose and for naught because “the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain” (Exodus 20:7). The Lord Jesus Christ warned that He is going to tell many people who have done “many wonderful works” in His name to depart from Him eternally, because He “never knew” these workers of “iniquity” who took His name and called Him Lord in vain.
“Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” (Matthew 15:7-9)
“All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the Lord weigheth the spirits.… By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil.” (Proverbs 16:2, 6)
“And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46)
Who we live for determines how we will live.
“Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment.” (Exodus 23:2)
Anyone whose feet are more comfortable walking on the broad way needs to carefully consider the path they are choosing to walk on. We can only walk with the Lord Jesus Christ on His path of light; He does not walk with us on the world’s path of darkness.
“Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.” (Proverbs 4:26-27)
“Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.… He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit …” (John 13:8, 10)
“If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” (1 John 1:6)
We cannot have it both ways. We need to give serious heed to the warnings of the Lord Jesus Christ, including the one regarding the many who deceived themselves into believing they were following in His footsteps:
“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” (Matthew 7:21)
“Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness.” (Luke 11:35)
“The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6:22-23)
The Israelites thought they could use the world’s ways and beliefs in serving God, but God did not accept their strange fire and had the harshest of words for them, not to mention judgment. Elijah asked them, “How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him” (1 Kings 18:21). And Joshua declared unto them, “And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve … but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15).
Similar admonishments are necessary today, as Christians try to balance with one foot on the narrow way and one foot on the broad way. If the Lord is God and if His Word is the truth, then follow the Lord God and His Holy Scriptures on His narrow way. But if it seems evil to serve the Lord by standing uncompromisingly on the absolutes of God’s unchanging truth because the world and the churches will cry, “Outdated!”, “Unloving!”, “Too negative!”, “Intolerant!”, “Judgmental!”, “Fearful!”, “Separative!”, and “Divisive!”, then choose you this day whom you will serve. Will it be the god of this world who sacrifices truth on the altar of unity, or the Almighty Lord God Who exalts His truth above even His own name?
The line is being drawn, and everyone is making their choice as to which side they will be on. There is no middle way, only the narrow way or the broad way. Trying to balance in the middle is being lukewarm, which is so distasteful to the Lord Jesus Christ that He is going to spit the lukewarm church out of His mouth:
“So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.” (Revelation 3:16-19)
“For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26)
We can mindlessly follow the crowd and its leaders, or we can mindfully follow the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, without Whom there is no Christian living or salvation.
“A New Religion Has Been Initiated, Which Is No More
Christianity than Chalk Is Cheese”
The apostle Paul was so grieved by God’s warning of the coming deception from “grievous wolves” and from men who would arise within Christianity, that for three years he “ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears” (see Acts 20:29-31). This is a far cry from the leaders today who respond to earnest warnings with laughter, mockery, contempt, and so forth.
These “change agents” can marginalize and censure those refusing to budge from the narrow way all they want. Their transformation of the faith of Christianity into a faith of the broad way is in plain view for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear. Their responses and marginalization are only exposing themselves.
Today’s behavior is similar to that of Old Testament times and is even prophesied in Scripture.
“Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein. Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken. Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them. Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it.” (Jeremiah 6:16-19)
“Moreover all the chief of the priests, and the people, transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen; and polluted the house of the Lord which he had hallowed in Jerusalem. And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place: But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till there was no remedy.” (2 Chronicles 36:14-16)
“But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; how that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.” (Jude 1:17-18)
There is a saying indicative of the times we are living in: “Truth can stand alone and often must.”
“O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord.” (Jeremiah 22:29)
“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.” (Psalm 1:1-6)
Today’s Christianity may be having a lot of fun in its new way of thinking and behaving, but this isn’t a game. Eternal souls are at stake, and the departure from the faith is real. Jesus Christ is being presented as a way of relativism rather than as the way and the truth, and the faith is being presented as an ever-changing method or experience that can be inserted into any faith.
The words Charles Spurgeon penned in 1887 might as well have been written today:
“No lover of the gospel can conceal from himself the fact that the days are evil.… our solemn conviction is that things are much worse in many churches than they seem to be, and are rapidly tending downward.… How much farther could they go? What doctrine remains to be abandoned? What other truth to be the object of contempt? A new religion has been initiated, which is no more Christianity than chalk is cheese; and this religion, being destitute of moral honesty, palms itself off as the old faith with slight improvements, and on this plea usurps pulpits which were erected for gospel preaching. The Atonement is scouted, the inspiration of Scripture is derided, the Holy Spirit is degraded into an influence, the punishment of sin is turned into fiction, and the resurrection into a myth, and yet these enemies of our faith expect us to call them brethren, and maintain a confederacy with them!…
“Is it any wonder that church members forget their vows of consecration, and run with the unholy in the ways of frivolity, when they hear that persons are tolerated in the pastorate who do the same? We doubt not that, for writing these lines we shall incur the charge of prudery and bigotry, and this will but prove how low are the tone and spirit of the churches in many places. The fact is, that many would like to unite church and stage, cards and prayer, dancing and sacraments.… When the old faith is gone, and enthusiasm for the gospel is extinct, it is no wonder that people seek something else in the way of delight. Lacking bread, they feed on ashes; rejecting the way of the Lord, they run greedily in the path of folly.…
“Too many ministers are toying with the deadly cobra of ‘another gospel,’ in the form of ‘modern thought.’…
“Where the gospel is fully and powerfully preached, with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, our churches not only hold their own, but win converts; but when that which constitutes their strength is gone—we mean when the gospel is concealed, and the life of prayer is slighted—the whole thing becomes a mere form and fiction.… Conformity, or nonconformity, per se is nothing; but a new creature is everything, and the truth upon which alone that new creature can live is worth dying a thousand deaths to conserve.…
“Certain ministers are making infidels. Avowed atheists are not a tenth as dangerous as those preachers who scatter doubt and stab at faith.… Germany was made unbelieving by her preachers, and England is following in her track.…
“A little plain-speaking would do a world of good just now. These gentlemen desire to be let alone. They want no noise raised. Of course thieves hate watch-dogs, and love darkness. It is time that somebody should spring his rattle, and call attention to the way in which God is being robbed of his glory, and man of his hope.
“It now becomes a serious question how far those who abide by the faith once delivered to the saints should fraternize with those who have turned aside to another gospel.… For the present it behoves believers to be cautious, lest they lend their support and countenance to the betrayers of the Lord.… Numbers of easy-minded people wink at error so long as it is committed by a clever man and a good-natured brother, who has so many fine points about him. Let each believer judge for himself; but, for our part, we have put on a few fresh bolts to our door, and we have given orders to keep the chain up; for, under color of begging the friendship of the servant, there are those about who aim at robbing THE MASTER.…
“If for a while the evangelicals are doomed to go down, let them die fighting, and in the full assurance that their gospel will have a resurrection when the inventions of ‘modern thought’ shall be burned up with fire unquenchable.” (Bold added)2
What on Earth Am I Here For? Keep the Faith!
There is nothing new under the sun. Even in the apostle Paul’s day, the Word of God was being corrupted and deceitfully used and speaking the truth was not well received:
“Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?” (Galatians 4:16)
“For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.” (2 Corinthians 2:17)
“Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.” (2 Corinthians 4:1-2)
No matter how popular or right anyone or anything seems to be and no matter how well something seems to “work,” it is God’s Word of absolute truth that determines right and wrong and gives us the saving faith we are to keep. God allows things to come to pass to test our faithfulness.
“If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Ye shall walk after the Lord your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.” (Deuteronomy 13:1-4)
Throughout the true Scriptures, the Lord God Himself is the Means and End of life, including why we are here. For all who know and love Him, whether we live or die, the precious Lord God Himself is the Road of life, the Goal of life, the Blessing of life, and the Prize of life. When He is the be-All and end-All of our lives, then scriptural worship, scriptural fellowship, scriptural discipleship, scriptural ministry, scriptural mission, and all the other purposes He gives us in His Holy Scriptures automatically fall into place.
“Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord.” (Acts 11:23)
“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13)
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6)
The Lord Jesus Christ is neither “a better way” nor “another way;” He is the only way. Keeping the faith is essential.
“For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; and, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister.” (Colossians 1:19-23)
“Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: [but] he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also. Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father. And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life. These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you.” (1 John 2:23-26; brackets in the original)
“Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.” (2 John 1:8-9)
“Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end.” (Hebrews 3:12-14)
“… I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God. Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.” (Revelation 3:1-3)
“Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” (2 Corinthians 13:5)
To depart from the faith is to remove oneself from God. God will deny us and remain faithful to Himself and His truth if we deny Him in order to become ONE with the many, or for any other reason.
“Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.” (Hebrews 10:38)
“If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.” (2 Timothy 2:12-13)
“But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.” (Matthew 10:33-34)
In “Divisions Are Not Always Bad,” A.W. Tozer warned that “unity is no treasure to be purchased at the price of compromise”:
“To divide what should be divided and unite what should be united is the part of wisdom.…
“The first divider was God who at the creation divided the light from the darkness. This division set the direction for all God’s dealings in nature and in grace. Light and darkness are incompatible …
“What shall we unite with and from what shall we separate? The question of coexistence does not enter here, but the question of union and fellowship does.…
“Unity is so devoutly to be desired that no price is too high to pay for it and nothing is important enough to keep us apart. Truth is slain to provide a feast to celebrate the marriage of heaven and hell, and all to support a concept of unity which has no basis in the Word of God.
“The Spirit-illuminated church will have none of this. In a fallen world like ours unity is no treasure to be purchased at the price of compromise. Loyalty to God, faithfulness to truth and the preservation of a good conscience are jewels more precious than gold of Ophir or diamonds from the mine. For these jewels … followers of Christ have paid the last full measure of devotion and quietly died, unknown to and unsung by the great world, but known to God and dear to His Father heart.…
“‘Divide and conquer’ is the cynical slogan of Machiavellian political leaders, but Satan knows also how to unite and conquer.… Then follows almost perfect unity indeed, but it is the unity of the stockyards and the concentration camp. We have seen this happen several times in this century, and the world will see it at least once more when the nations of the earth are united under Antichrist.
“When confused sheep start over a cliff the individual sheep can save himself only by separating from the flock. Perfect unity at such a time can only mean total destruction for all. The wise sheep to save his own hide disaffiliates.
“Power lies in the union of things similar and the division of things dissimilar. Maybe what we need in religious circles today is not more union but some wise and courageous division. Everyone desires peace but it could be that revival will follow the sword.” (Bold added)3
May the leaders whose eyes have been opened to any deception they promoted come out and publicly acknowledge the error of their ways, for the sake of all those who heeded them in their deception. We must take a stand for the Lord God and His Word over man. When the religious leaders tried to silence the apostles from speaking the truth, their response was an acknowledgment of the Lordship of God:
“Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.” (Acts 5:29)
The costs are very high, but the costs are even higher in not doing so. Our loving Lord God is worth it all, and He gave His all for us.
“But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And of some have compassion, making a difference: And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.” (Jude 1:20-23)
“For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.” (Galatians 1:10)
“But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.” (2 Timothy 4:5)
We are to contend for and keep the faith and be separated (holy) unto God in our flesh and spirit, not united with the world and its darkness, no matter how noble the transcendent purpose seems.
“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” (2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1)
May we all have the faith and perseverance of Moses and the rest of the great cloud of faithful witnesses who have gone before us:
“Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.” (Hebrews 11:25-27)
“Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings.… Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.” (Isaiah 51:7, 11)
“Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.” (Hebrews 13:13-14)
“At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me … Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (2 Timothy 4:16-18)
“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.” (2 Timothy 4:7-8)
After all is said and done, for those who in the name of purpose are seeking broad, inclusive unity with the world over narrow, exclusive separation unto God, and for those who have been led to believe they can live a purpose-driven life in other faiths (religions), may this actual CNN transcription error serve as an additional warning before it is too late:
“… finding your religion in the bookstore, meet the Christian authors of the best-selling series ‘Left Behind in the Purpose Driven Life,’ part of our special weeklong series ‘Keeping the Faith.’” (Emphasis added)4
Saturday, August 04, 2007
The New Reformation: “A Whole New Paradigm Between Faith Communities”
“The bottom line is that we intend to reinvent mission strategy in the 21st century. This will be a new Reformation. The First Reformation returned us to the message of the original church. It was a reformation of doctrine - what the church BELIEVES. This Second Reformation will return us to the mission of the original church. It will be a reformation of purpose- what the church DOES in the world.” —Rick Warren (Italics added)1
“Purpose Driven Ministries is bypassing old distinctions between denominations and nationalities and unifying the church worldwide.” (Emphasis added)2
On May 15, 2005, Rick Warren’s message for the Global Day of Prayer included a startling admission regarding his New Reformation:
“‘The first Reformation was about belief; this one’s going to be about behavior,’ said Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in Southern California and author of the best-selling The Purpose-Driven Life. ‘The first one was about creeds; this one’s going to be about our deeds. The first one divided the church; this time it will unify the church.’” (Bold added)3
A week later at the Pew Forum’s Conference on May 23, 2005, Rick Warren elaborated on his purpose to undo the first Reformation:
“The first Reformation actually split Christianity into dozens and then hundreds of different segments. I think this one is actually going to bring them together. Now, you’re never going to get Christians, of all their stripes and varieties, to agree on all of the different doctrinal disputes and things like that, but what I am seeing them agree on are the purposes of the church. And I find great uniformity in the fact that I see this happening all the time. Last week I spoke to 4,000 pastors at my church who came from over 100 denominations in over 50 countries. Now, that’s wide spread. We had Catholic priests, we had Pentecostal ministers, we had Lutheran bishops, we had Anglican bishops, we had Baptist preachers. They’re all there together and you know what? I’d never get them to agree on communion or baptism or a bunch of stuff like that, but I could get them to agree on what the church should be doing in the world.” —Rick Warren (Emphasis added)4
Carefully consider Rick Warren’s purpose here. The first Reformation was indeed about belief, and it divided those who believed the true Gospel of Christ from those who believed a false gospel—i.e., Rome’s false gospel of works. No, he will never get Rome to agree on the scriptural means of salvation. Rome will never agree that “a bunch of stuff” like baptism is not the means of forgiveness of sins and eternal life or that communion (the “Eucharist”) is not the literal sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ for redemption and forgiveness of sins!
Throughout its history, the Roman Catholic Church has been adept at twisting Scripture into a lie. And, grievously, Rome is now being embraced by professing Christians even though it has never deviated from teaching the same false gospel of works which the Lord Jesus Christ’s tortured, faithful martyrs rejected and thereby suffered gruesome deaths by Rome’s hand. How times have changed among those who call themselves followers of Christ!
At the Pew Forum’s Conference Rick Warren was asked, “How much engagement with Catholics are you really experiencing?” He replied:
“I think it’s just getting started … I think it’s the beginning of a new movement. I’ve had a number of Catholic people, like Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, came out, and others have kind of made a pilgrimage to Saddleback … And I just think the word is getting out. There have been movements that have come along that have broken the denominational barriers in Christianity, things like the conferences we do …
“And, you know, growing up as a Protestant boy, I knew nothing about Catholics, but I started watching ETWN, the Catholic channel, and I said, ‘Well, I’m not as far apart from these guys as I thought I was, you know?” —Rick Warren (Emphasis added)5
The Catechism of the Catholic Church6 contains a multitude of false doctrines that oppose the Gospel of Christ and deny or ignore what God said in His Holy Scriptures. It was completed at the request of Pope John Paul II who gave the task to a commission chaired by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger,7 who is now Pope Benedict XVI. When completed, this very current Catechism was approved by Pope John Paul II who “offered [it] to every individual who … wants to know what the Catholic Church believes.” He declared it to “be a sure and authentic reference text for teaching catholic doctrine,” which “is meant to support ecumenical efforts” (emphasis added).8
Keeping in mind Rick Warren’s declaration that “I’m not as far apart from these guys as I thought I was,” here is a relatively small sample of Rome’s false teachings taken from this Catechism:
Salvation, the work of redemption, and forgiveness of all sins are through Rome and her sacraments, administered by her exalted “divinized” priests—
• “‘Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture make up a single sacred deposit of the Word of God …’” (#97; p. 29; emphasis added)
• “‘… all Christian churches everywhere have held and hold the great Church that is here [at Rome] to be their only basis and foundation …’” (#834; p. 221; brackets in the original)
• “The Church is the mother of all believers. ‘No one can have God as Father who does not have the Church as Mother.’” (#181; p. 48)
• “The Church is catholic: she proclaims the fullness of the faith. She bears in herself and administers the totality of the means of salvation.” (#868; p. 230; emphasis added)
• “One who desires to obtain reconciliation with God and with the Church, must confess to a priest all the unconfessed grave sins he remembers …” (#1493; p. 374)
• “Indeed bishops and priests, by virtue of the sacrament of Holy Orders, have the power to forgive all sins …” (#1461; p. 367)
• “[Who then is the priest? He is] the defender of truth, who stands with angels, gives glory with archangels, causes sacrifices to rise to the altar on high, shares Christ’s priesthood, refashions creation, restores it in God’s image, recreates it for the world on high and, even greater, is divinized and divinizes.” [!] (#1589; p. 397; brackets in the original)
• “The Church affirms that for believers the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for salvation.” (#1129; p. 292)
• “Baptism is necessary for salvation.… The Church does not know of any means other than Baptism that assures entry into eternal beatitude …” (#1257; p. 320)
• “By Baptism all sins are forgiven, original sin and all personal sins, as well as all punishment for sin.” (#1263; p. 321)
• “The Gospel is the revelation in Jesus Christ of God’s mercy to sinners.… The same is true of the Eucharist, the sacrament of redemption: ‘This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.’” (#1846; p. 452; emphasis added)
• “For it is in the liturgy, especially in the divine sacrifice of the Eucharist, that ‘the work of our redemption is accomplished’ …” (#1068; p. 278)
• “In the most blessed sacrament of the Eucharist ‘the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained.’” (#1374; p. 346; bold added)
• “… the Church … presents to the Father the offering of his Son which reconciles us with him.” [!] (#1354; p. 341)
• “Holy Communion separates us from sin.… cleansing us from past sins and preserving us from future sins …” (#1393; p. 351)
• “Worship of the Eucharist.… ‘The Catholic Church has always offered and still offers to the sacrament of the Eucharist the cult of adoration, not only during Mass, but also outside of it, reserving the consecrated hosts with the utmost care, exposing them to the solemn veneration of the faithful …’” (#1378; p. 347)
Salvation through Rome does not require faith in the Gospel of Christ and can occur after death—
• “Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church … those too may achieve eternal salvation.” (#847; p. 224)
• “Within the unity of the People of God, a multiplicity of peoples and cultures is gathered together.… ‘Holding a rightful place in the communion of the Church there are also particular Churches that retain their own traditions.’” (#814; p. 215)
• “… Noah, like Enoch before him, ‘walks with God.’ This kind of prayer is lived by many righteous people in all religions.” (#2569; p. 617; emphasis added)
• “To be sure, there are as many paths of prayer as there are persons who pray, but it is the same Spirit acting in all and with all.” (#2672; p. 642)
• “All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.” (#1030; p. 268; emphasis added)
Salvation and deliverance from eternal death are through the saving work of Rome’s completely sinless “All-Holy One” who bodily ascended into heaven and was exalted by God over all things. This person is not the Son of God -- the sinless, all-holy Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Who bodily ascended into heaven, was exalted by God over all things, sits at His right hand as the only Mediator between God and man, and through Whom is life that ends the death by Adam. No, in Rome the sinless giver of life and salvation is none other than the “Mother of God,” Mary, “Queen over all things”—
• “As St. Irenaeus says, ‘Being obedient she became the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race.’… ‘The knot of Eve’s disobedience was untied by Mary’s obedience …’ Comparing her with Eve, they [‘the early Fathers’] call Mary ‘the Mother of the living’ and frequently claim: ‘Death through Eve, life through Mary.’” (#494; p. 125; emphasis added)
• “Mary … was preserved from all stain of original sin and by a special grace of God committed no sin of any kind during her whole earthly life.” (#411; p. 104; emphasis added)
• “‘Finally the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things …’” (#966; p. 252; emphasis added)
• “By asking Mary to pray for us, we acknowledge ourselves to be poor sinners and we address ourselves to the ‘Mother of Mercy,’ the All-Holy One. We give ourselves over to her now, in the Today of our lives.” (#2677; p. 644; emphasis added)
• “You [‘O Mother of God’] … by your prayers, will deliver our souls from death.” (#966; p. 252; emphasis added)
• “‘Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation . . . . Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix.’” (#969; p. 252; ellipsis dots in the original; emphasis added)
• “In Mary, the Holy Spirit manifests the Son of the Father, now become the Son of the Virgin. She is the burning bush of the definitive theophany. Filled with the Holy Spirit she makes the Word visible in the humility of his flesh. It is to the poor and the first representatives of the gentiles that she makes him known.” (#724; p. 191; bold added)
The path of Rome leads to becoming “other ‘Christs,’” which continues their denial of the uniqueness of the Lord Jesus Christ—
• “… by Baptism, he [‘the Father’] incorporates us into the Body of his Christ; through the anointing of his Spirit who flows from the head to the members, he makes us other ‘Christs.’… ‘So then you who have become sharers in Christ are appropriately called ‘Christs.’’” (#2782; p. 667; emphasis added)
• “Christ and his Church thus together make up the ‘whole Christ’ (Christus totus). The Church is one with Christ. The saints are acutely aware of this unity: ‘Let us rejoice then and give thanks that we have become not only Christians, but Christ himself.… Marvel and rejoice: we have become Christ.’” (#795; p. 210; parentheses in the original; bold added)
• “The Eucharist is our daily bread. The power belonging to this divine food makes it a bond of union. Its effect is then understood as unity, so that, gathered into his Body and made members of him, we may become what we receive. . . .” (#2837; p. 681; ellipsis dots in the original; emphasis added)
• “… to receive in faith the gift of his Eucharist is to receive the Lord himself.” (#1336; p. 337; emphasis added)
The path of Rome leads to ‘godhood,’ which is the ultimate defiance against the Lord God—
• “[Who then is the priest? He is] … divinized and divinizes.” (#1589; p. 397; brackets in the original; emphasis added)
• “Created in a state of holiness, man was destined to be fully ‘divinized’ by God in glory.” (#398; p. 100; emphasis added)
• “The Church is essentially both human and divine …” (#771; p. 203; emphasis added)
• “The grace of Christ … is the sanctifying or deifying grace received in Baptism.” (#1999; p. 484; bold added)
• “‘For the Son of God became man so that we might become God.’ ‘The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods.’” (#460; p. 116; emphasis added)
What exactly was Rick Warren referring to when he said, “I’m not as far apart from these guys as I thought I was, you know?” Purpose? Unity? Not God’s purposes or unity of the faith!
Putting the label of “Christian” on false religions (faiths), such as Roman Catholicism and Mormonism, is merely the deceptive work of the Angel of light. A label doesn’t change false doctrines and gospels into truth. In addition, referring to those who are lost as “brothers and sisters in Christ” is anything but loving toward them. True love does not deceive people into thinking they are saved when they are ensnared in false beliefs that cannot save their souls. This is nothing less than the utmost cruelty. To join in unity with false religions does nothing for furthering the Gospel of Christ. But it does do a great deal for propagating the Angel of light’s false gospel that “we are all one.”
The Lord God, Who alone is God and divine, is the One Who set forth His means of salvation. Mankind can’t change the truth just because it wants to be positive, tolerant, and inclusive of those in other religions (faiths). Absolute truth is what it is, regardless of whether or not people choose to believe it or try to change it or choose to broaden the definition of what is considered “Christian.”
Rome does say we are saved by grace. But Rome’s “grace” is “deifying”! Furthermore, the Word of God declares that faith gives us access into God’s grace—which gives us eternal life not godhood! That we are saved by grace through faith was the basis of the first Reformation and the subsequent division of the church, which Rick Warren’s New Reformation seeks to purposefully undo. If faith is not the key that gives us access into the grace of God, then either everyone is or will be saved or works become the key. Both of these things completely contradict God’s Holy Scriptures.
“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” (Romans 5:1-2)
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)
“Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.… I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.” (Galatians 2:16, 21)
Although good works are the result of salvation, as the means to salvation grace and works render each other null and void by taking from each other the very essence of what they are:
“And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.” (Romans 11:6)
“Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.… For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect … Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace …” (Romans 4:4-6, 14, 16)
“Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.” (Galatians 5:4-5)
“Consider the work of God: for who can make that straight, which he hath made crooked?” (Ecclesiastes 7:13)
There’s a reason Scripture exhorts us to contend for the faith not for the unity of faiths:
“Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” (Jude 1:3)
“But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.” (2 Corinthians 11:3-4)
“Yet Warren’s pastor-training programs welcome Catholics … ‘I’m not going to get into a debate over the non-essentials. I won’t try to change other denominations. Why be divisive?’ he [Rick Warren] asks …” (Emphasis added)9
At the Pew Forum’s Conference, Rick Warren was asked, “So are you saying doctrine won’t be important or is not important if you bring together all these –.” He replied:
“No, no. I think, though, it’s what Augustine said: ‘In the essentials, unity; in the non-essentials, liberty; and in all things, charity.’ And I think that’s how evangelicals and Catholics can get together.” (Emphasis added)10
Clearly, the essentials of true Christianity and the essentials of Roman Catholicism are mutually exclusive.11 In order to “get together” with Rome, the Gospel of Christ (not to mention the truth in general) would have to become non-essential in order to bridge the divide between the narrow way and the broad way.
The first Reformation divided Christianity from Churchianity. Yet today it is no longer a problem if not everyone agrees on the Gospel of Christ because religious (doctrinal) distinctions are being bypassed for the sake of uniting together in the name of purpose.
“There are Purpose Driven churches in over 200 different denominations and associations. We work with denominations to strengthen their churches. We encourage every church to maintain its own heritage and doctrinal convictions while we cooperate together on what every church is called to do -- the five biblical purposes of worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, and evangelism. Everybody agrees on that!” —Rick Warren (Emphasis added)12
On November 4-6, 2004, the American Society for Church Growth held its 2004 annual conference at Fuller Theological Seminary. This conference was to “learn, interact, and grow with the leading voices of the Emerging Church.”13 Pastor Dennis Costella, Editor of FOUNDATION Magazine, attended this conference “to better understand the latest thinking of the church growth leaders.”14 In the November-December 2004 issue of his magazine, he reported that Rick Warren made the following statements at this conference:
“We now have ‘purpose-driven’ churches in 122 countries. And if I were to ask every ‘purpose-driven’ church in America to raise their hand, it would shock America because we don’t tell them to change their label. On the front it says, ‘Lutheran, Second Methodist, Holy Power Episcopal,’ you name it; ‘Four-Peas-in-the-Pod Four Square’—it’s got everything! Every name you can imagine. And we have Catholic ‘purpose-driven’ churches …
“And I don’t make any apology in saying to you that the ‘purpose-driven’ paradigm is the operating system of a 21[st] century church. I believe that because we now have 36,000 case studies, and it’s in every country.
“And so it doesn’t demand that they change from being Lutheran or Methodist or Nazarene or Assembly of God or Baptist or whatever. I don’t really care what your doctrine is. What I care about is, do you have a process by which you bring people into membership, build them up to maturity, train them for ministry, send them out on a mission, for the glory of God?” —Rick Warren (Emphasis added)15
It was inevitable for doctrine to be bypassed in the purpose-driven Reformation. In Rick Warren’s “final exam,” “God won’t ask about your religious background or doctrinal views” (PDL; p. 34; emphasis added).
The narrow way’s unity of the faith and the Holy Spirit through the truth are too exclusive for the unity-driven world. Instead, the commonality of purpose and values is allowed to transcend doctrinal and religious barriers and advance the broad way’s “unity in diversity.” “Non-essentials” are put aside for what is deemed the higher value -- unity.
“God deeply desires that we experience oneness and harmony with each other.
“Unity is the soul of fellowship. Destroy it, and you rip the heart out of Christ’s Body. It is the essence, the core, of how God intends for us to experience life together in his church.” (PDL; p. 160)
“Now, you’re never going to get Christians, of all their stripes and varieties, to agree on all of the different doctrinal disputes and things like that, but what I am seeing them agree on are the purposes of the church. And I find great uniformity in the fact that I see this happening all the time.” —Rick Warren (Emphasis added)16
In “The Essence of Separation,” Charles Spurgeon warned against this very thing:
“‘To remain divided is sinful! Did not our Lord pray, ‘that they may be one, even as we are one’? (John 17:22).’ A chorus of ecumenical voices keep harping the unity tune. What they are saying is, ‘Christians of all doctrinal shades and beliefs must come together in one visible organization, regardless.… Unite, unite!’
“Such teaching is false, reckless and dangerous. Truth alone must determine our alignments. Truth comes before unity. Unity without truth is hazardous. Our Lord’s prayer in John 17 must be read in its full context. Look at verse 17: ‘Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.’ Only those sanctified through the Word can be one in Christ. To teach otherwise is to betray the Gospel.” (Emphasis added)17
The rampant destructive errors spreading throughout Christianity need to be addressed and corrected according to the light of God’s Holy Scriptures. But little if any scriptural addressing and correcting of the destructive errors is allowed to occur with the following taking place:
• Unscriptural covenants are being signed to categorically uphold the unity of purpose-driven churches.
• People are falling for the propaganda that everything’s fine and they shouldn’t listen to the so-called “gossip” of “divisive” people who say otherwise.
• Contenders of the faith are being encouraged to leave the churches and become “blessed subtractions.”
• “Every church” is being encouraged to maintain their own doctrines without regard for their adherence to Scripture’s truth.
The Angel of light must be very pleased with the extent of his success in neutralizing Christianity. And his success in achieving non-doctrinal unity within today’s Christianity and with Rome is only the beginning.
Interfaith “Spiritual Care” -- “Whatever it Takes!”
“You boldly held up your ‘WHATEVER IT TAKES!’ sign when I challenged you with the PEACE plan and the vision for the next 25 years.” —Rick Warren18
“Pastors and church leaders from 49 countries and 200 denominations ended last week’s Purpose Driven Church Conference [May 17-20, 2005] with a commitment to do whatever it takes to topple the global giants of spiritual lostness, egocentric leadership, poverty, sickness and illiteracy.
“Conference attendees made the commitment by holding up red and yellow signs as they agreed to do their part in a new worldwide reformation that Purpose Driven Ministries founder Pastor Rick Warren says will focus on what the church does.”19
There is no difference between “whatever it takes” and “no matter what it costs,” and these phrases already have a broad meaning. But the masses in the Purpose-Driven Paradigm are willing to follow this path to a New Reformation that is turning the first Reformation upside down. But it doesn’t end there. Their purpose-driven leader “intend[s] to use the Purpose Driven movement to fulfill PEACE in a new reformation” (emphasis added).20
Rick Warren’s global P.E.A.C.E. Plan was publicly launched in 2005. Basically, it consists of fighting the five “global giants”:
• spiritual lostness or blindness or, most commonly, emptiness
• egocentric or self-centered leadership
• poverty
• sickness or disease
• illiteracy
The five solutions to these giants, respectively, are:
• Plant or Partner with a church or congregation
• Equip leaders
• Assist the poor
• Care for the sick
• Educate the next generation
Trustfully following a leader into the hazy and open-ended area of “whatever it takes” is risky. Especially when the leader is undiscerning and deceived, as evidenced in his teachings and actions. Over and over and over it is brought up that this P.E.A.C.E. Plan was “quietly” tested for two years. And according to Mike Constantz, Saddleback’s pastor of missions, “Rick has tried to keep the PEACE Plan under wraps for two years.”21
Over the last year, the P.E.A.C.E. Plan has gradually been unveiled in conferences and events. And the extent to which this Plan intends to involve interfaith unity in “whatever it takes” continues to be less and less under wraps. About his P.E.A.C.E. Plan, Rick Warren has said:
“Now this is the strategy behind the P.E.A.C.E. plan. It’s a strategy to mobilize millions of small groups in millions of churches to attack the 5 global giants with a 5 point strategy.… P-E-A-C-E is the P.E.A.C.E. plan. Now where does that come from? It comes from Luke 10.” —Rick Warren22
“When Jesus sent the disciples … into a village he said, ‘Find the man of peace.’ And he said, ‘When you find the man of peace you start working with that person, and if they respond to you, you work with them. If they don’t, you dust the dust off your shoes; you go to the next village.’ Who’s the man of peace in any village – or it might be a woman of peace – who has the most respect, they’re open and they’re influential? They don’t have to be a Christian. In fact, they could be a Muslim, but they’re open and they’re influential and you work with them to attack the five giants. And that’s going to bring the second Reformation.” —Rick Warren (Emphasis added)23
“I am working toward a second Reformation of the church which could create a Third Great Awakening in our nation or world …” —Rick Warren24
“Find the man of peace. Bless him. He blesses you back. Who is the man of peace? He’s influential and he’s open. He doesn’t have to be a Christian. Find a non-Christian who’s influential and open—a Muslim or an atheist.” —Rick Warren (Emphasis added)25
“… you go in and you deal with gatekeepers, for instance, like pastors, priests, rabbis, imams, whoever you would call, we call them the man of peace …” —Rick Warren (Emphasis added)26
“What do you do once you find the man of peace? You do the P.E.A.C.E. Plan. You Partner or Plant with a church, Equip a leader, Assist the poor, you Care for the sick, you Educate the next generation.” —Rick Warren (Emphasis added)27
“Planting churches is the way to fulfill the Great Commission.” —Rick Warren28
“The first Reformation divided the church. We need a new one that unites it. And then I believe that this new Reformation will be the evangelization of the world.” —Rick Warren (Emphasis added)29
According to Rick Warren, working with unbelievers in different faiths is going to bring in the new Reformation that is to evangelize the world! And this P.E.A.C.E. strategy of his even includes working with these non-Christian “men of peace” in partnering with or planting a church. What kind of “church” is an atheist or an imam or any other Muslim or unbeliever going to want to plant or partner with?! How is this the solution to spiritual lostness/blindness/emptiness? Nevertheless, “planting churches is the way to fulfill the Great Commission”!
Even in regards to working with these unbelievers on the solutions to the other giants, what beliefs are they going to equip leaders and educate the next generation with? What “spiritual care” will they offer the poor, sick, and dying?! This is not about God or His purposes or the Gospel of Christ or God’s peace or eternity.
An article on Pastors.com reported that Rick Warren made the following statements at his May 2005 Purpose Driven Church Conference about his “new worldwide reformation”:
“‘It’s time to stop debating and start doing,’ said Warren … ‘It’s time to stop criticizing and start cooperating. It’s time for the church to be known for love and not legalism. It’s time for the church to be known for what we are for not what we are against. It’s time for the church to act on what we believe. It’s time for the church to be a doer of the Word and not just a hearer.’”30
In light of his pursuit of interfaith unity in his New Reformation and P.E.A.C.E. Plan, those statements have quite an impact.
Rick Warren does rightly say, “It’s time for the church to act on what we believe,” and, “It’s time for the church to be a doer of the Word and not just a hearer.” However, when churches are believing and propagating error, interfaith unity, and corrupt per-versions of the Word, acting on what they believe and being a doer of “the Word” doesn’t mean what it should. (Incidentally, neither does the term “Christian;” according to today’s use of the term, even the devil would qualify as one!)
Under the guise of “a new worldwide reformation” of purpose, the faith of Christianity is being globally transformed into the unified faiths of Churchianity. This interfaith cooperation in the P.E.A.C.E. Plan goes beyond enlisting merely the individuals and leaders who are in other religions (faiths). The Plan seeks to involve even the churches (“houses of worship”) of “all the different religions.”
“Now these 5 problems [‘global Goliaths’] are so big no government can solve them. The United Nations can’t even solve these problems. They’re so big. The only thing big enough to solve these problems is the network of millions and millions and millions and millions and millions and millions and millions of churches all around the world. Catholic churches, Protestant churches, Pentecostal churches, Evangelical churches, and every other kind of church. I can take you into a thousand villages that don’t have a school, don’t have a clinic, don’t have a fire department, don’t have a grocery store, don’t have any government, don’t even have any business, but they got a church. And what, I began to dream, would happen if we could mobilize millions of small groups, tens of millions of small groups in millions of churches from village to village around the world to begin to address the 5 global giants?” —Rick Warren (Emphasis added)31
“These are problems so big that no government can solve them. The only thing big enough are millions and millions of local churches of every kind.” —Rick Warren (Emphasis added)32
When Rick Warren said “every other kind of church,” he meant “every kind” of church or congregation. He has clarified this in different conferences and events. The following quote is from his Keynote Address to the interfaith, Annual Conference of the Religion Newswriters Association (RNA) in September 2005.
“There’s only one thing big enough in the entire world to solve them [the five global giants]. Only one thing. The millions and millions and millions and millions and millions and millions of congregations that are spread out all around the world. I could take you today to a million villages that don’t have a school, don’t have a clinic, don’t have a post office, don’t have a fire department, don’t have a business, but they got a church. Or they got a synagogue. They got something. They got a house of worship.… All the Wal-Marts and Starbucks and every other franchise put together couldn’t compete to the amount of churches that are in the world.…
“So I began to think, what is the key to this? And I came up with a thing called the P.E.A.C.E. Plan. When Jesus sent the disciples out, he said, ‘When you go into a village, you find the man of peace.’ Now this person doesn’t have to be a Christian.… You find the person of peace, and then you begin to do the P.E.A.C.E. Plan, P-E-A-C-E. It stands for Partner with congregations, partner with congregations. You start with them because they’re already there.… They’re in the village. Partner with a congregation. Or you plant a congregation if there’s not one there.…
“Now why am I telling this to you? Because we’re going public with it this next year in 2006.… [W]e’re now learning the lessons of the two-year prototype … we’re going to release it to those 400,000 congregations that we’ve trained. And I believe it will change the world.” —Rick Warren (Emphasis added)33
These 400,000 congregations that are to “change the world” aren’t even necessarily Christian, as pointed out in this same Keynote Address:
“In the 1990s I trained about a quarter of a million pastors. It’s now gone, as I said, to over 400,000 … and we’re talking about all kinds of different groups, including priests in the Catholic church, and including rabbis.… So anyway, then in the 21st century I said that now we’re going global.” —Rick Warren (Emphasis added)34
Regardless of Rick Warren’s additional statement at this Conference that “P-E-A-C-E is just what Jesus did when he was here on earth,”35 his P.E.A.C.E. Plan is about serving the world’s physical needs through interfaith unity, which opposes what Jesus did while He was here on earth. The Lord Jesus Christ met physical needs in the course of His work of saving souls. And He never partnered with people or congregations in the different religions to do His work!
That interfaith unity underlies the various strategies of Rick Warren’s P.E.A.C.E. Plan contradicts all rhetoric that his Purpose-Driven Plan is about the truth, the work of Jesus, the Gospel, God’s purposes, and the Great Commandment and the “Great Commission.” This is further evidenced in the following, which gets even worse.
Rick Warren spoke at the TIME Global Health Summit on November 1, 2005—a summit which among many other speakers also featured U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Chairman of the U.N. Foundation Ted Turner, and former U.S. President Bill Clinton.36
First, in the initial press conference that day, Rick Warren made the following comment:
“My personal position is I will use whatever works.”37
This position obviously refers to much more than the specifics of fighting AIDS, which this statement was in reference to. In his speech later that day, he discussed the world’s failure at addressing the five giants listed in his global P.E.A.C.E. Plan. Then Rick Warren actually called for partnering with congregations of “all the different religions” not just for physical care but for spiritual care!:
“Well, as I said, I could take you to villages that don’t have a clinic, don’t have … But they’ve got a church. In fact, in many countries the only infrastructure that is there is religion.… What if in this 21st century we were able to network these churches providing the … manpower in local congregations. Let’s just take my religion by itself. Christianity.… The church is bigger than any government in the world. Then you add in Muslims, you add in Hindus, you add in all the different religions, and you use those houses of worship as distribution centers, not just for spiritual care but health care. What could be done?…
“Government has a role and business has a role and churches, houses of worship have a role. I think it’s time to go to the moon, and I invite you to go with us.” —Rick Warren (Emphasis added)38
To positively refer to all the religions’ idolatrous houses of false gods as “houses of worship” that should help give “spiritual care” to the world is an abomination. To say that this is not about reaching or saving “one more for Jesus” is a tremendous understatement! Besides, “worship” is Rick Warren’s first purpose, which he defines as “bringing pleasure to God” (PDL; p. 64). Since when does faith in false gods bring pleasure to God, Whose name is Jealous? And believing in a generic “God” of interfaith unity is not faith in God.
In the name of purpose, truth continues to be sacrificed on the altar of unity. And it isn’t “the moon” this path is heading toward.
“Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee: But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves: For thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God: Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a-whoring after their gods …” (Exodus 34:12-15)
This is the purpose of the darkness of the broad way. It is a denial of the Gospel of Christ and of the Word of God and does not care one iota for the souls of people who will be given “spiritual care” by those on the “spiritual journey” (path) to eternal destruction. This is a prime example of how professing Christians who participate in interfaith unity are presenting the Lord Jesus Christ as “merely another way” along with Buddha, Mohammed, and all the false gods represented by the many “houses of worship” of “all the different religions.”
Rick Warren says over and over at various conferences and events that partnering with “men of peace” and “houses of worship” in other religions is to be part of his P.E.A.C.E. Plan. The repetitiveness shows that his interfaith statements are not involuntary remarks. He is purposefully calling for the religions of the world to work together on his P.E.A.C.E. Plan.
In July 2005, Rick Warren along with “100 of today’s most profound and provocative thinkers, writers, artists, corporate heads, policy officials, scholars and other leaders,” gathered for the inaugural Aspen Ideas Festival. This Festival was “a public celebration and exploration of the most compelling and thought-provoking ideas of our time.”39
At the end of Rick Warren’s discussion on “Religion and Leadership” with David Gergen, a Muslim man from the audience thanked Rick Warren “for giving so many people such deep and fulfilled lives.” He then asked for his advice on involving the evangelical community “in healing the chasm between faith communities” to promote interfaith cooperation in serving the world. Rick Warren’s answer to this Muslim reiterated the interfaith aspects of his P.E.A.C.E. Plan:
“In the global P.E.A.C.E. Plan, which is P-E-A-C-E, … Partner with other houses of worship, Partner with churches, Equip leaders, …
“In the Bible when Jesus sent his followers out, he said, ‘When you go into a village, you find the man of peace.’ And this is where you and I can work together. Find the man of peace.… He does not necessarily have to be a quote Christian, could be Muslim, could be Jewish, could be a nothing. But he’s open and influential. And when you find that man of peace then you work together.…
“There are millions and millions and millions and millions and millions and millions and millions of churches spread out.… And if we could take houses of worship … Together we can make a difference. You and me, we’ll work on that.” (Emphasis added)40
Working together in interfaith unity with “men of peace” and “houses of worship” in “all the different religions” is not about the eternal peace and purposes of God. This is about the temporal peace and purposes of the world. This is not what the Lord Jesus Christ sent His followers out to do!
The first giant of Rick Warren’s P.E.A.C.E. Plan is spiritual lostness/blindness/emptiness. Interfaith unity will exacerbate this giant, not solve it! Neither will this giant be solved by working in interfaith unity on the other four giants. Even his P.E.A.C.E. Plan acknowledges that all five giants are “intertwined.” Yet ignoring this giant even more is the purpose-driven “strategy” in which “the effort would be on healing, not proselytizing.” The Gospel of faith has been transformed into a gospel of service.
“And what’s currently on the agenda for Pastor Rick Warren is nothing less than changing the world.” —The Orange County Register, 11/6/0541
“P.E.A.C.E. is a grassroots church-to-church strategy, which links congregations around the world to make a difference together. It is also a small group strategy that utilizes group dynamics for support and accountability.
“Moreover, the strategy is comprehensive, attacking all five problems, because they are all intertwined.… It is also a church-based strategy that makes local congregations the heroes.…
“Finally, P.E.A.C.E. is a global strategy. ‘Our goal is to mobilize every church in every nation,’ he concluded.…
“He asked the conference attendees, ‘Are you willing to do whatever it takes?’” —PurposeDriven, reporting on Saddleback’s Nov. 29 - Dec. 1, 2005 Disturbing Voices HIV/AIDS Conference (Emphasis added)42
“‘It will take a whole new paradigm between faith communities, and the private and public sectors,’ Warren said.…
“There is a new way to address problems we have been unable to solve alone, he said.
“‘Just imagine,’ he says with a smile, ‘what could happen with a new paradigm of increased cooperation.’” —PurposeDriven News, reporting on the Nov. 1-3, 2005 Time Global Health Summit (Emphasis added)43
“Pastor Rick Warren, author of the smash best-seller ‘The Purpose-Driven Life,’ said at the briefing that he has rallied thousands in his church to begin missionary-style work in foreign countries. The effort would be on healing, not proselytizing, he said.” —ABC News, 11/2/05, reporting on the Time Global Health Summit (Emphasis added)44
“The bottom line is that we intend to reinvent mission strategy in the 21st century. This will be a new Reformation.” —Rick Warren45
“The P.E.A.C.E. Plan is a revolutionary missions strategy … Purpose Driven Ministries will be sharing the P.E.A.C.E. Plan model with churches throughout the world.” —Pastors.com46
“The Peace Plan, its a relationship for the global glory of God.” —Rick Warren47
A Peace Plan that calls for Christians to put their effort on healing, not evangelism (proselytizing), and calls for all faiths to work together despite their differences is about the ‘glory’ of man, not God.
This New Reformation is definitely a “revolutionary missions strategy” that puts greater effort into sharing the P.E.A.C.E. Plan with the world than it does the Gospel of Christ. But remember, the solution to the giant of spiritual lostness is to plant a church, and, as previously mentioned, Rick Warren has said, “There is one thing you could do greater than share Jesus Christ with somebody, and it is help start a church” (emphasis added). Even in starting his own church, he told active members “of any kind of religion,” “‘Great, God bless you, keep going.’”
The interfaith direction of his P.E.A.C.E. Plan and its desire to utilize non-Christians from other religions to help plant churches and give “spiritual care” was to be expected. Interfaith unity is more important than the fact that it won’t be the Christian faith that all the different religions (faiths) will be spreading in their attempt to meet “broad and varied spiritual needs”:
“He [Rick Warren] said that God uses many churches and traditions to meet broad and varied spiritual needs.
“‘Now I don’t agree with everything in everybody’s denomination, including my own. I don’t agree with everything that Catholics do or Pentecostals do, but what binds us together is so much stronger than what divides us,’ he said.” —Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 11/12/05, reporting on the Anglican Communion Network’s Hope and A Future conference (Emphasis added)48
It isn’t the truth and the Gospel of Christ that binds Catholics with the churches embracing this religion. So exactly what is “so much stronger than” the truth which is “what divides us”? Creeds are being benched in favor of deeds in this New Reformation that has gone way beyond turning the first Reformation upside down.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette follows the previous quote with:
“I really do feel that these people are brothers and sisters in God’s family. I am looking to build bridges with the Orthodox Church, looking to build bridges with the Catholic Church, with the Anglican Church, and say ‘What can we do together that we have been unable to do by ourselves?’” —Rick Warren (Emphasis added)49
One’s feelings are completely irrelevant in determining truth. And given that he is building bridges with other religions (faiths), his feelings are leading him astray. “What could be done?” was also Rick Warren’s question when he called for “all the different religions” to participate in “spiritual care.” “What could be done” isn’t the issue; “Thy will be done” is.
Rick Warren says his P.E.A.C.E. Plan is “a Purpose-Driven strategy, built on the five purposes – worship, evangelism, discipleship, ministry, and fellowship.”50 Indeed, his interfaith Plan continues the man-centered path of his purpose-driven “manifesto.” “Religious background or doctrinal views” don’t matter in either one. In addition, John 15:5 has essentially been rewritten in both the “manifesto” and P.E.A.C.E. Plan to say, “for without community ye can do nothing.” This again elevates community (relationships) above God and His truth. And so does the following:
“We won’t let anybody do the PEACE plan by themselves. You have to do it in a team, in community.” —Rick Warren51
“Spiritual awakening” appears to be the new term for blindness in this upside-down world. What this world is “awakening” to is Oneness on the broad way. Christianity’s new message is no different than that of the interfaith world: “Together as ONE we can change the world.” And remember, the effort will be on “healing, not proselytizing.” Christianity’s new message has supplanted the Gospel of Christ.
Along with the world, Christians today are seeking the power of all working together as ONE rather than the power of the one Lord God. This is upside down to the Kingdom of God.
“And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:34-38)
“They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.” (Titus 1:16)
“Purpose Driven Ministries is bypassing old distinctions between denominations and nationalities and unifying the church worldwide.” (Emphasis added)2
On May 15, 2005, Rick Warren’s message for the Global Day of Prayer included a startling admission regarding his New Reformation:
“‘The first Reformation was about belief; this one’s going to be about behavior,’ said Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in Southern California and author of the best-selling The Purpose-Driven Life. ‘The first one was about creeds; this one’s going to be about our deeds. The first one divided the church; this time it will unify the church.’” (Bold added)3
A week later at the Pew Forum’s Conference on May 23, 2005, Rick Warren elaborated on his purpose to undo the first Reformation:
“The first Reformation actually split Christianity into dozens and then hundreds of different segments. I think this one is actually going to bring them together. Now, you’re never going to get Christians, of all their stripes and varieties, to agree on all of the different doctrinal disputes and things like that, but what I am seeing them agree on are the purposes of the church. And I find great uniformity in the fact that I see this happening all the time. Last week I spoke to 4,000 pastors at my church who came from over 100 denominations in over 50 countries. Now, that’s wide spread. We had Catholic priests, we had Pentecostal ministers, we had Lutheran bishops, we had Anglican bishops, we had Baptist preachers. They’re all there together and you know what? I’d never get them to agree on communion or baptism or a bunch of stuff like that, but I could get them to agree on what the church should be doing in the world.” —Rick Warren (Emphasis added)4
Carefully consider Rick Warren’s purpose here. The first Reformation was indeed about belief, and it divided those who believed the true Gospel of Christ from those who believed a false gospel—i.e., Rome’s false gospel of works. No, he will never get Rome to agree on the scriptural means of salvation. Rome will never agree that “a bunch of stuff” like baptism is not the means of forgiveness of sins and eternal life or that communion (the “Eucharist”) is not the literal sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ for redemption and forgiveness of sins!
Throughout its history, the Roman Catholic Church has been adept at twisting Scripture into a lie. And, grievously, Rome is now being embraced by professing Christians even though it has never deviated from teaching the same false gospel of works which the Lord Jesus Christ’s tortured, faithful martyrs rejected and thereby suffered gruesome deaths by Rome’s hand. How times have changed among those who call themselves followers of Christ!
At the Pew Forum’s Conference Rick Warren was asked, “How much engagement with Catholics are you really experiencing?” He replied:
“I think it’s just getting started … I think it’s the beginning of a new movement. I’ve had a number of Catholic people, like Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, came out, and others have kind of made a pilgrimage to Saddleback … And I just think the word is getting out. There have been movements that have come along that have broken the denominational barriers in Christianity, things like the conferences we do …
“And, you know, growing up as a Protestant boy, I knew nothing about Catholics, but I started watching ETWN, the Catholic channel, and I said, ‘Well, I’m not as far apart from these guys as I thought I was, you know?” —Rick Warren (Emphasis added)5
The Catechism of the Catholic Church6 contains a multitude of false doctrines that oppose the Gospel of Christ and deny or ignore what God said in His Holy Scriptures. It was completed at the request of Pope John Paul II who gave the task to a commission chaired by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger,7 who is now Pope Benedict XVI. When completed, this very current Catechism was approved by Pope John Paul II who “offered [it] to every individual who … wants to know what the Catholic Church believes.” He declared it to “be a sure and authentic reference text for teaching catholic doctrine,” which “is meant to support ecumenical efforts” (emphasis added).8
Keeping in mind Rick Warren’s declaration that “I’m not as far apart from these guys as I thought I was,” here is a relatively small sample of Rome’s false teachings taken from this Catechism:
Salvation, the work of redemption, and forgiveness of all sins are through Rome and her sacraments, administered by her exalted “divinized” priests—
• “‘Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture make up a single sacred deposit of the Word of God …’” (#97; p. 29; emphasis added)
• “‘… all Christian churches everywhere have held and hold the great Church that is here [at Rome] to be their only basis and foundation …’” (#834; p. 221; brackets in the original)
• “The Church is the mother of all believers. ‘No one can have God as Father who does not have the Church as Mother.’” (#181; p. 48)
• “The Church is catholic: she proclaims the fullness of the faith. She bears in herself and administers the totality of the means of salvation.” (#868; p. 230; emphasis added)
• “One who desires to obtain reconciliation with God and with the Church, must confess to a priest all the unconfessed grave sins he remembers …” (#1493; p. 374)
• “Indeed bishops and priests, by virtue of the sacrament of Holy Orders, have the power to forgive all sins …” (#1461; p. 367)
• “[Who then is the priest? He is] the defender of truth, who stands with angels, gives glory with archangels, causes sacrifices to rise to the altar on high, shares Christ’s priesthood, refashions creation, restores it in God’s image, recreates it for the world on high and, even greater, is divinized and divinizes.” [!] (#1589; p. 397; brackets in the original)
• “The Church affirms that for believers the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for salvation.” (#1129; p. 292)
• “Baptism is necessary for salvation.… The Church does not know of any means other than Baptism that assures entry into eternal beatitude …” (#1257; p. 320)
• “By Baptism all sins are forgiven, original sin and all personal sins, as well as all punishment for sin.” (#1263; p. 321)
• “The Gospel is the revelation in Jesus Christ of God’s mercy to sinners.… The same is true of the Eucharist, the sacrament of redemption: ‘This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.’” (#1846; p. 452; emphasis added)
• “For it is in the liturgy, especially in the divine sacrifice of the Eucharist, that ‘the work of our redemption is accomplished’ …” (#1068; p. 278)
• “In the most blessed sacrament of the Eucharist ‘the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained.’” (#1374; p. 346; bold added)
• “… the Church … presents to the Father the offering of his Son which reconciles us with him.” [!] (#1354; p. 341)
• “Holy Communion separates us from sin.… cleansing us from past sins and preserving us from future sins …” (#1393; p. 351)
• “Worship of the Eucharist.… ‘The Catholic Church has always offered and still offers to the sacrament of the Eucharist the cult of adoration, not only during Mass, but also outside of it, reserving the consecrated hosts with the utmost care, exposing them to the solemn veneration of the faithful …’” (#1378; p. 347)
Salvation through Rome does not require faith in the Gospel of Christ and can occur after death—
• “Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church … those too may achieve eternal salvation.” (#847; p. 224)
• “Within the unity of the People of God, a multiplicity of peoples and cultures is gathered together.… ‘Holding a rightful place in the communion of the Church there are also particular Churches that retain their own traditions.’” (#814; p. 215)
• “… Noah, like Enoch before him, ‘walks with God.’ This kind of prayer is lived by many righteous people in all religions.” (#2569; p. 617; emphasis added)
• “To be sure, there are as many paths of prayer as there are persons who pray, but it is the same Spirit acting in all and with all.” (#2672; p. 642)
• “All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.” (#1030; p. 268; emphasis added)
Salvation and deliverance from eternal death are through the saving work of Rome’s completely sinless “All-Holy One” who bodily ascended into heaven and was exalted by God over all things. This person is not the Son of God -- the sinless, all-holy Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Who bodily ascended into heaven, was exalted by God over all things, sits at His right hand as the only Mediator between God and man, and through Whom is life that ends the death by Adam. No, in Rome the sinless giver of life and salvation is none other than the “Mother of God,” Mary, “Queen over all things”—
• “As St. Irenaeus says, ‘Being obedient she became the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race.’… ‘The knot of Eve’s disobedience was untied by Mary’s obedience …’ Comparing her with Eve, they [‘the early Fathers’] call Mary ‘the Mother of the living’ and frequently claim: ‘Death through Eve, life through Mary.’” (#494; p. 125; emphasis added)
• “Mary … was preserved from all stain of original sin and by a special grace of God committed no sin of any kind during her whole earthly life.” (#411; p. 104; emphasis added)
• “‘Finally the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things …’” (#966; p. 252; emphasis added)
• “By asking Mary to pray for us, we acknowledge ourselves to be poor sinners and we address ourselves to the ‘Mother of Mercy,’ the All-Holy One. We give ourselves over to her now, in the Today of our lives.” (#2677; p. 644; emphasis added)
• “You [‘O Mother of God’] … by your prayers, will deliver our souls from death.” (#966; p. 252; emphasis added)
• “‘Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation . . . . Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix.’” (#969; p. 252; ellipsis dots in the original; emphasis added)
• “In Mary, the Holy Spirit manifests the Son of the Father, now become the Son of the Virgin. She is the burning bush of the definitive theophany. Filled with the Holy Spirit she makes the Word visible in the humility of his flesh. It is to the poor and the first representatives of the gentiles that she makes him known.” (#724; p. 191; bold added)
The path of Rome leads to becoming “other ‘Christs,’” which continues their denial of the uniqueness of the Lord Jesus Christ—
• “… by Baptism, he [‘the Father’] incorporates us into the Body of his Christ; through the anointing of his Spirit who flows from the head to the members, he makes us other ‘Christs.’… ‘So then you who have become sharers in Christ are appropriately called ‘Christs.’’” (#2782; p. 667; emphasis added)
• “Christ and his Church thus together make up the ‘whole Christ’ (Christus totus). The Church is one with Christ. The saints are acutely aware of this unity: ‘Let us rejoice then and give thanks that we have become not only Christians, but Christ himself.… Marvel and rejoice: we have become Christ.’” (#795; p. 210; parentheses in the original; bold added)
• “The Eucharist is our daily bread. The power belonging to this divine food makes it a bond of union. Its effect is then understood as unity, so that, gathered into his Body and made members of him, we may become what we receive. . . .” (#2837; p. 681; ellipsis dots in the original; emphasis added)
• “… to receive in faith the gift of his Eucharist is to receive the Lord himself.” (#1336; p. 337; emphasis added)
The path of Rome leads to ‘godhood,’ which is the ultimate defiance against the Lord God—
• “[Who then is the priest? He is] … divinized and divinizes.” (#1589; p. 397; brackets in the original; emphasis added)
• “Created in a state of holiness, man was destined to be fully ‘divinized’ by God in glory.” (#398; p. 100; emphasis added)
• “The Church is essentially both human and divine …” (#771; p. 203; emphasis added)
• “The grace of Christ … is the sanctifying or deifying grace received in Baptism.” (#1999; p. 484; bold added)
• “‘For the Son of God became man so that we might become God.’ ‘The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods.’” (#460; p. 116; emphasis added)
What exactly was Rick Warren referring to when he said, “I’m not as far apart from these guys as I thought I was, you know?” Purpose? Unity? Not God’s purposes or unity of the faith!
Putting the label of “Christian” on false religions (faiths), such as Roman Catholicism and Mormonism, is merely the deceptive work of the Angel of light. A label doesn’t change false doctrines and gospels into truth. In addition, referring to those who are lost as “brothers and sisters in Christ” is anything but loving toward them. True love does not deceive people into thinking they are saved when they are ensnared in false beliefs that cannot save their souls. This is nothing less than the utmost cruelty. To join in unity with false religions does nothing for furthering the Gospel of Christ. But it does do a great deal for propagating the Angel of light’s false gospel that “we are all one.”
The Lord God, Who alone is God and divine, is the One Who set forth His means of salvation. Mankind can’t change the truth just because it wants to be positive, tolerant, and inclusive of those in other religions (faiths). Absolute truth is what it is, regardless of whether or not people choose to believe it or try to change it or choose to broaden the definition of what is considered “Christian.”
Rome does say we are saved by grace. But Rome’s “grace” is “deifying”! Furthermore, the Word of God declares that faith gives us access into God’s grace—which gives us eternal life not godhood! That we are saved by grace through faith was the basis of the first Reformation and the subsequent division of the church, which Rick Warren’s New Reformation seeks to purposefully undo. If faith is not the key that gives us access into the grace of God, then either everyone is or will be saved or works become the key. Both of these things completely contradict God’s Holy Scriptures.
“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” (Romans 5:1-2)
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)
“Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.… I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.” (Galatians 2:16, 21)
Although good works are the result of salvation, as the means to salvation grace and works render each other null and void by taking from each other the very essence of what they are:
“And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.” (Romans 11:6)
“Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.… For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect … Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace …” (Romans 4:4-6, 14, 16)
“Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.” (Galatians 5:4-5)
“Consider the work of God: for who can make that straight, which he hath made crooked?” (Ecclesiastes 7:13)
There’s a reason Scripture exhorts us to contend for the faith not for the unity of faiths:
“Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” (Jude 1:3)
“But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.” (2 Corinthians 11:3-4)
“Yet Warren’s pastor-training programs welcome Catholics … ‘I’m not going to get into a debate over the non-essentials. I won’t try to change other denominations. Why be divisive?’ he [Rick Warren] asks …” (Emphasis added)9
At the Pew Forum’s Conference, Rick Warren was asked, “So are you saying doctrine won’t be important or is not important if you bring together all these –.” He replied:
“No, no. I think, though, it’s what Augustine said: ‘In the essentials, unity; in the non-essentials, liberty; and in all things, charity.’ And I think that’s how evangelicals and Catholics can get together.” (Emphasis added)10
Clearly, the essentials of true Christianity and the essentials of Roman Catholicism are mutually exclusive.11 In order to “get together” with Rome, the Gospel of Christ (not to mention the truth in general) would have to become non-essential in order to bridge the divide between the narrow way and the broad way.
The first Reformation divided Christianity from Churchianity. Yet today it is no longer a problem if not everyone agrees on the Gospel of Christ because religious (doctrinal) distinctions are being bypassed for the sake of uniting together in the name of purpose.
“There are Purpose Driven churches in over 200 different denominations and associations. We work with denominations to strengthen their churches. We encourage every church to maintain its own heritage and doctrinal convictions while we cooperate together on what every church is called to do -- the five biblical purposes of worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, and evangelism. Everybody agrees on that!” —Rick Warren (Emphasis added)12
On November 4-6, 2004, the American Society for Church Growth held its 2004 annual conference at Fuller Theological Seminary. This conference was to “learn, interact, and grow with the leading voices of the Emerging Church.”13 Pastor Dennis Costella, Editor of FOUNDATION Magazine, attended this conference “to better understand the latest thinking of the church growth leaders.”14 In the November-December 2004 issue of his magazine, he reported that Rick Warren made the following statements at this conference:
“We now have ‘purpose-driven’ churches in 122 countries. And if I were to ask every ‘purpose-driven’ church in America to raise their hand, it would shock America because we don’t tell them to change their label. On the front it says, ‘Lutheran, Second Methodist, Holy Power Episcopal,’ you name it; ‘Four-Peas-in-the-Pod Four Square’—it’s got everything! Every name you can imagine. And we have Catholic ‘purpose-driven’ churches …
“And I don’t make any apology in saying to you that the ‘purpose-driven’ paradigm is the operating system of a 21[st] century church. I believe that because we now have 36,000 case studies, and it’s in every country.
“And so it doesn’t demand that they change from being Lutheran or Methodist or Nazarene or Assembly of God or Baptist or whatever. I don’t really care what your doctrine is. What I care about is, do you have a process by which you bring people into membership, build them up to maturity, train them for ministry, send them out on a mission, for the glory of God?” —Rick Warren (Emphasis added)15
It was inevitable for doctrine to be bypassed in the purpose-driven Reformation. In Rick Warren’s “final exam,” “God won’t ask about your religious background or doctrinal views” (PDL; p. 34; emphasis added).
The narrow way’s unity of the faith and the Holy Spirit through the truth are too exclusive for the unity-driven world. Instead, the commonality of purpose and values is allowed to transcend doctrinal and religious barriers and advance the broad way’s “unity in diversity.” “Non-essentials” are put aside for what is deemed the higher value -- unity.
“God deeply desires that we experience oneness and harmony with each other.
“Unity is the soul of fellowship. Destroy it, and you rip the heart out of Christ’s Body. It is the essence, the core, of how God intends for us to experience life together in his church.” (PDL; p. 160)
“Now, you’re never going to get Christians, of all their stripes and varieties, to agree on all of the different doctrinal disputes and things like that, but what I am seeing them agree on are the purposes of the church. And I find great uniformity in the fact that I see this happening all the time.” —Rick Warren (Emphasis added)16
In “The Essence of Separation,” Charles Spurgeon warned against this very thing:
“‘To remain divided is sinful! Did not our Lord pray, ‘that they may be one, even as we are one’? (John 17:22).’ A chorus of ecumenical voices keep harping the unity tune. What they are saying is, ‘Christians of all doctrinal shades and beliefs must come together in one visible organization, regardless.… Unite, unite!’
“Such teaching is false, reckless and dangerous. Truth alone must determine our alignments. Truth comes before unity. Unity without truth is hazardous. Our Lord’s prayer in John 17 must be read in its full context. Look at verse 17: ‘Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.’ Only those sanctified through the Word can be one in Christ. To teach otherwise is to betray the Gospel.” (Emphasis added)17
The rampant destructive errors spreading throughout Christianity need to be addressed and corrected according to the light of God’s Holy Scriptures. But little if any scriptural addressing and correcting of the destructive errors is allowed to occur with the following taking place:
• Unscriptural covenants are being signed to categorically uphold the unity of purpose-driven churches.
• People are falling for the propaganda that everything’s fine and they shouldn’t listen to the so-called “gossip” of “divisive” people who say otherwise.
• Contenders of the faith are being encouraged to leave the churches and become “blessed subtractions.”
• “Every church” is being encouraged to maintain their own doctrines without regard for their adherence to Scripture’s truth.
The Angel of light must be very pleased with the extent of his success in neutralizing Christianity. And his success in achieving non-doctrinal unity within today’s Christianity and with Rome is only the beginning.
Interfaith “Spiritual Care” -- “Whatever it Takes!”
“You boldly held up your ‘WHATEVER IT TAKES!’ sign when I challenged you with the PEACE plan and the vision for the next 25 years.” —Rick Warren18
“Pastors and church leaders from 49 countries and 200 denominations ended last week’s Purpose Driven Church Conference [May 17-20, 2005] with a commitment to do whatever it takes to topple the global giants of spiritual lostness, egocentric leadership, poverty, sickness and illiteracy.
“Conference attendees made the commitment by holding up red and yellow signs as they agreed to do their part in a new worldwide reformation that Purpose Driven Ministries founder Pastor Rick Warren says will focus on what the church does.”19
There is no difference between “whatever it takes” and “no matter what it costs,” and these phrases already have a broad meaning. But the masses in the Purpose-Driven Paradigm are willing to follow this path to a New Reformation that is turning the first Reformation upside down. But it doesn’t end there. Their purpose-driven leader “intend[s] to use the Purpose Driven movement to fulfill PEACE in a new reformation” (emphasis added).20
Rick Warren’s global P.E.A.C.E. Plan was publicly launched in 2005. Basically, it consists of fighting the five “global giants”:
• spiritual lostness or blindness or, most commonly, emptiness
• egocentric or self-centered leadership
• poverty
• sickness or disease
• illiteracy
The five solutions to these giants, respectively, are:
• Plant or Partner with a church or congregation
• Equip leaders
• Assist the poor
• Care for the sick
• Educate the next generation
Trustfully following a leader into the hazy and open-ended area of “whatever it takes” is risky. Especially when the leader is undiscerning and deceived, as evidenced in his teachings and actions. Over and over and over it is brought up that this P.E.A.C.E. Plan was “quietly” tested for two years. And according to Mike Constantz, Saddleback’s pastor of missions, “Rick has tried to keep the PEACE Plan under wraps for two years.”21
Over the last year, the P.E.A.C.E. Plan has gradually been unveiled in conferences and events. And the extent to which this Plan intends to involve interfaith unity in “whatever it takes” continues to be less and less under wraps. About his P.E.A.C.E. Plan, Rick Warren has said:
“Now this is the strategy behind the P.E.A.C.E. plan. It’s a strategy to mobilize millions of small groups in millions of churches to attack the 5 global giants with a 5 point strategy.… P-E-A-C-E is the P.E.A.C.E. plan. Now where does that come from? It comes from Luke 10.” —Rick Warren22
“When Jesus sent the disciples … into a village he said, ‘Find the man of peace.’ And he said, ‘When you find the man of peace you start working with that person, and if they respond to you, you work with them. If they don’t, you dust the dust off your shoes; you go to the next village.’ Who’s the man of peace in any village – or it might be a woman of peace – who has the most respect, they’re open and they’re influential? They don’t have to be a Christian. In fact, they could be a Muslim, but they’re open and they’re influential and you work with them to attack the five giants. And that’s going to bring the second Reformation.” —Rick Warren (Emphasis added)23
“I am working toward a second Reformation of the church which could create a Third Great Awakening in our nation or world …” —Rick Warren24
“Find the man of peace. Bless him. He blesses you back. Who is the man of peace? He’s influential and he’s open. He doesn’t have to be a Christian. Find a non-Christian who’s influential and open—a Muslim or an atheist.” —Rick Warren (Emphasis added)25
“… you go in and you deal with gatekeepers, for instance, like pastors, priests, rabbis, imams, whoever you would call, we call them the man of peace …” —Rick Warren (Emphasis added)26
“What do you do once you find the man of peace? You do the P.E.A.C.E. Plan. You Partner or Plant with a church, Equip a leader, Assist the poor, you Care for the sick, you Educate the next generation.” —Rick Warren (Emphasis added)27
“Planting churches is the way to fulfill the Great Commission.” —Rick Warren28
“The first Reformation divided the church. We need a new one that unites it. And then I believe that this new Reformation will be the evangelization of the world.” —Rick Warren (Emphasis added)29
According to Rick Warren, working with unbelievers in different faiths is going to bring in the new Reformation that is to evangelize the world! And this P.E.A.C.E. strategy of his even includes working with these non-Christian “men of peace” in partnering with or planting a church. What kind of “church” is an atheist or an imam or any other Muslim or unbeliever going to want to plant or partner with?! How is this the solution to spiritual lostness/blindness/emptiness? Nevertheless, “planting churches is the way to fulfill the Great Commission”!
Even in regards to working with these unbelievers on the solutions to the other giants, what beliefs are they going to equip leaders and educate the next generation with? What “spiritual care” will they offer the poor, sick, and dying?! This is not about God or His purposes or the Gospel of Christ or God’s peace or eternity.
An article on Pastors.com reported that Rick Warren made the following statements at his May 2005 Purpose Driven Church Conference about his “new worldwide reformation”:
“‘It’s time to stop debating and start doing,’ said Warren … ‘It’s time to stop criticizing and start cooperating. It’s time for the church to be known for love and not legalism. It’s time for the church to be known for what we are for not what we are against. It’s time for the church to act on what we believe. It’s time for the church to be a doer of the Word and not just a hearer.’”30
In light of his pursuit of interfaith unity in his New Reformation and P.E.A.C.E. Plan, those statements have quite an impact.
Rick Warren does rightly say, “It’s time for the church to act on what we believe,” and, “It’s time for the church to be a doer of the Word and not just a hearer.” However, when churches are believing and propagating error, interfaith unity, and corrupt per-versions of the Word, acting on what they believe and being a doer of “the Word” doesn’t mean what it should. (Incidentally, neither does the term “Christian;” according to today’s use of the term, even the devil would qualify as one!)
Under the guise of “a new worldwide reformation” of purpose, the faith of Christianity is being globally transformed into the unified faiths of Churchianity. This interfaith cooperation in the P.E.A.C.E. Plan goes beyond enlisting merely the individuals and leaders who are in other religions (faiths). The Plan seeks to involve even the churches (“houses of worship”) of “all the different religions.”
“Now these 5 problems [‘global Goliaths’] are so big no government can solve them. The United Nations can’t even solve these problems. They’re so big. The only thing big enough to solve these problems is the network of millions and millions and millions and millions and millions and millions and millions of churches all around the world. Catholic churches, Protestant churches, Pentecostal churches, Evangelical churches, and every other kind of church. I can take you into a thousand villages that don’t have a school, don’t have a clinic, don’t have a fire department, don’t have a grocery store, don’t have any government, don’t even have any business, but they got a church. And what, I began to dream, would happen if we could mobilize millions of small groups, tens of millions of small groups in millions of churches from village to village around the world to begin to address the 5 global giants?” —Rick Warren (Emphasis added)31
“These are problems so big that no government can solve them. The only thing big enough are millions and millions of local churches of every kind.” —Rick Warren (Emphasis added)32
When Rick Warren said “every other kind of church,” he meant “every kind” of church or congregation. He has clarified this in different conferences and events. The following quote is from his Keynote Address to the interfaith, Annual Conference of the Religion Newswriters Association (RNA) in September 2005.
“There’s only one thing big enough in the entire world to solve them [the five global giants]. Only one thing. The millions and millions and millions and millions and millions and millions of congregations that are spread out all around the world. I could take you today to a million villages that don’t have a school, don’t have a clinic, don’t have a post office, don’t have a fire department, don’t have a business, but they got a church. Or they got a synagogue. They got something. They got a house of worship.… All the Wal-Marts and Starbucks and every other franchise put together couldn’t compete to the amount of churches that are in the world.…
“So I began to think, what is the key to this? And I came up with a thing called the P.E.A.C.E. Plan. When Jesus sent the disciples out, he said, ‘When you go into a village, you find the man of peace.’ Now this person doesn’t have to be a Christian.… You find the person of peace, and then you begin to do the P.E.A.C.E. Plan, P-E-A-C-E. It stands for Partner with congregations, partner with congregations. You start with them because they’re already there.… They’re in the village. Partner with a congregation. Or you plant a congregation if there’s not one there.…
“Now why am I telling this to you? Because we’re going public with it this next year in 2006.… [W]e’re now learning the lessons of the two-year prototype … we’re going to release it to those 400,000 congregations that we’ve trained. And I believe it will change the world.” —Rick Warren (Emphasis added)33
These 400,000 congregations that are to “change the world” aren’t even necessarily Christian, as pointed out in this same Keynote Address:
“In the 1990s I trained about a quarter of a million pastors. It’s now gone, as I said, to over 400,000 … and we’re talking about all kinds of different groups, including priests in the Catholic church, and including rabbis.… So anyway, then in the 21st century I said that now we’re going global.” —Rick Warren (Emphasis added)34
Regardless of Rick Warren’s additional statement at this Conference that “P-E-A-C-E is just what Jesus did when he was here on earth,”35 his P.E.A.C.E. Plan is about serving the world’s physical needs through interfaith unity, which opposes what Jesus did while He was here on earth. The Lord Jesus Christ met physical needs in the course of His work of saving souls. And He never partnered with people or congregations in the different religions to do His work!
That interfaith unity underlies the various strategies of Rick Warren’s P.E.A.C.E. Plan contradicts all rhetoric that his Purpose-Driven Plan is about the truth, the work of Jesus, the Gospel, God’s purposes, and the Great Commandment and the “Great Commission.” This is further evidenced in the following, which gets even worse.
Rick Warren spoke at the TIME Global Health Summit on November 1, 2005—a summit which among many other speakers also featured U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Chairman of the U.N. Foundation Ted Turner, and former U.S. President Bill Clinton.36
First, in the initial press conference that day, Rick Warren made the following comment:
“My personal position is I will use whatever works.”37
This position obviously refers to much more than the specifics of fighting AIDS, which this statement was in reference to. In his speech later that day, he discussed the world’s failure at addressing the five giants listed in his global P.E.A.C.E. Plan. Then Rick Warren actually called for partnering with congregations of “all the different religions” not just for physical care but for spiritual care!:
“Well, as I said, I could take you to villages that don’t have a clinic, don’t have … But they’ve got a church. In fact, in many countries the only infrastructure that is there is religion.… What if in this 21st century we were able to network these churches providing the … manpower in local congregations. Let’s just take my religion by itself. Christianity.… The church is bigger than any government in the world. Then you add in Muslims, you add in Hindus, you add in all the different religions, and you use those houses of worship as distribution centers, not just for spiritual care but health care. What could be done?…
“Government has a role and business has a role and churches, houses of worship have a role. I think it’s time to go to the moon, and I invite you to go with us.” —Rick Warren (Emphasis added)38
To positively refer to all the religions’ idolatrous houses of false gods as “houses of worship” that should help give “spiritual care” to the world is an abomination. To say that this is not about reaching or saving “one more for Jesus” is a tremendous understatement! Besides, “worship” is Rick Warren’s first purpose, which he defines as “bringing pleasure to God” (PDL; p. 64). Since when does faith in false gods bring pleasure to God, Whose name is Jealous? And believing in a generic “God” of interfaith unity is not faith in God.
In the name of purpose, truth continues to be sacrificed on the altar of unity. And it isn’t “the moon” this path is heading toward.
“Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee: But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves: For thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God: Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a-whoring after their gods …” (Exodus 34:12-15)
This is the purpose of the darkness of the broad way. It is a denial of the Gospel of Christ and of the Word of God and does not care one iota for the souls of people who will be given “spiritual care” by those on the “spiritual journey” (path) to eternal destruction. This is a prime example of how professing Christians who participate in interfaith unity are presenting the Lord Jesus Christ as “merely another way” along with Buddha, Mohammed, and all the false gods represented by the many “houses of worship” of “all the different religions.”
Rick Warren says over and over at various conferences and events that partnering with “men of peace” and “houses of worship” in other religions is to be part of his P.E.A.C.E. Plan. The repetitiveness shows that his interfaith statements are not involuntary remarks. He is purposefully calling for the religions of the world to work together on his P.E.A.C.E. Plan.
In July 2005, Rick Warren along with “100 of today’s most profound and provocative thinkers, writers, artists, corporate heads, policy officials, scholars and other leaders,” gathered for the inaugural Aspen Ideas Festival. This Festival was “a public celebration and exploration of the most compelling and thought-provoking ideas of our time.”39
At the end of Rick Warren’s discussion on “Religion and Leadership” with David Gergen, a Muslim man from the audience thanked Rick Warren “for giving so many people such deep and fulfilled lives.” He then asked for his advice on involving the evangelical community “in healing the chasm between faith communities” to promote interfaith cooperation in serving the world. Rick Warren’s answer to this Muslim reiterated the interfaith aspects of his P.E.A.C.E. Plan:
“In the global P.E.A.C.E. Plan, which is P-E-A-C-E, … Partner with other houses of worship, Partner with churches, Equip leaders, …
“In the Bible when Jesus sent his followers out, he said, ‘When you go into a village, you find the man of peace.’ And this is where you and I can work together. Find the man of peace.… He does not necessarily have to be a quote Christian, could be Muslim, could be Jewish, could be a nothing. But he’s open and influential. And when you find that man of peace then you work together.…
“There are millions and millions and millions and millions and millions and millions and millions of churches spread out.… And if we could take houses of worship … Together we can make a difference. You and me, we’ll work on that.” (Emphasis added)40
Working together in interfaith unity with “men of peace” and “houses of worship” in “all the different religions” is not about the eternal peace and purposes of God. This is about the temporal peace and purposes of the world. This is not what the Lord Jesus Christ sent His followers out to do!
The first giant of Rick Warren’s P.E.A.C.E. Plan is spiritual lostness/blindness/emptiness. Interfaith unity will exacerbate this giant, not solve it! Neither will this giant be solved by working in interfaith unity on the other four giants. Even his P.E.A.C.E. Plan acknowledges that all five giants are “intertwined.” Yet ignoring this giant even more is the purpose-driven “strategy” in which “the effort would be on healing, not proselytizing.” The Gospel of faith has been transformed into a gospel of service.
“And what’s currently on the agenda for Pastor Rick Warren is nothing less than changing the world.” —The Orange County Register, 11/6/0541
“P.E.A.C.E. is a grassroots church-to-church strategy, which links congregations around the world to make a difference together. It is also a small group strategy that utilizes group dynamics for support and accountability.
“Moreover, the strategy is comprehensive, attacking all five problems, because they are all intertwined.… It is also a church-based strategy that makes local congregations the heroes.…
“Finally, P.E.A.C.E. is a global strategy. ‘Our goal is to mobilize every church in every nation,’ he concluded.…
“He asked the conference attendees, ‘Are you willing to do whatever it takes?’” —PurposeDriven, reporting on Saddleback’s Nov. 29 - Dec. 1, 2005 Disturbing Voices HIV/AIDS Conference (Emphasis added)42
“‘It will take a whole new paradigm between faith communities, and the private and public sectors,’ Warren said.…
“There is a new way to address problems we have been unable to solve alone, he said.
“‘Just imagine,’ he says with a smile, ‘what could happen with a new paradigm of increased cooperation.’” —PurposeDriven News, reporting on the Nov. 1-3, 2005 Time Global Health Summit (Emphasis added)43
“Pastor Rick Warren, author of the smash best-seller ‘The Purpose-Driven Life,’ said at the briefing that he has rallied thousands in his church to begin missionary-style work in foreign countries. The effort would be on healing, not proselytizing, he said.” —ABC News, 11/2/05, reporting on the Time Global Health Summit (Emphasis added)44
“The bottom line is that we intend to reinvent mission strategy in the 21st century. This will be a new Reformation.” —Rick Warren45
“The P.E.A.C.E. Plan is a revolutionary missions strategy … Purpose Driven Ministries will be sharing the P.E.A.C.E. Plan model with churches throughout the world.” —Pastors.com46
“The Peace Plan, its a relationship for the global glory of God.” —Rick Warren47
A Peace Plan that calls for Christians to put their effort on healing, not evangelism (proselytizing), and calls for all faiths to work together despite their differences is about the ‘glory’ of man, not God.
This New Reformation is definitely a “revolutionary missions strategy” that puts greater effort into sharing the P.E.A.C.E. Plan with the world than it does the Gospel of Christ. But remember, the solution to the giant of spiritual lostness is to plant a church, and, as previously mentioned, Rick Warren has said, “There is one thing you could do greater than share Jesus Christ with somebody, and it is help start a church” (emphasis added). Even in starting his own church, he told active members “of any kind of religion,” “‘Great, God bless you, keep going.’”
The interfaith direction of his P.E.A.C.E. Plan and its desire to utilize non-Christians from other religions to help plant churches and give “spiritual care” was to be expected. Interfaith unity is more important than the fact that it won’t be the Christian faith that all the different religions (faiths) will be spreading in their attempt to meet “broad and varied spiritual needs”:
“He [Rick Warren] said that God uses many churches and traditions to meet broad and varied spiritual needs.
“‘Now I don’t agree with everything in everybody’s denomination, including my own. I don’t agree with everything that Catholics do or Pentecostals do, but what binds us together is so much stronger than what divides us,’ he said.” —Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 11/12/05, reporting on the Anglican Communion Network’s Hope and A Future conference (Emphasis added)48
It isn’t the truth and the Gospel of Christ that binds Catholics with the churches embracing this religion. So exactly what is “so much stronger than” the truth which is “what divides us”? Creeds are being benched in favor of deeds in this New Reformation that has gone way beyond turning the first Reformation upside down.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette follows the previous quote with:
“I really do feel that these people are brothers and sisters in God’s family. I am looking to build bridges with the Orthodox Church, looking to build bridges with the Catholic Church, with the Anglican Church, and say ‘What can we do together that we have been unable to do by ourselves?’” —Rick Warren (Emphasis added)49
One’s feelings are completely irrelevant in determining truth. And given that he is building bridges with other religions (faiths), his feelings are leading him astray. “What could be done?” was also Rick Warren’s question when he called for “all the different religions” to participate in “spiritual care.” “What could be done” isn’t the issue; “Thy will be done” is.
Rick Warren says his P.E.A.C.E. Plan is “a Purpose-Driven strategy, built on the five purposes – worship, evangelism, discipleship, ministry, and fellowship.”50 Indeed, his interfaith Plan continues the man-centered path of his purpose-driven “manifesto.” “Religious background or doctrinal views” don’t matter in either one. In addition, John 15:5 has essentially been rewritten in both the “manifesto” and P.E.A.C.E. Plan to say, “for without community ye can do nothing.” This again elevates community (relationships) above God and His truth. And so does the following:
“We won’t let anybody do the PEACE plan by themselves. You have to do it in a team, in community.” —Rick Warren51
“Spiritual awakening” appears to be the new term for blindness in this upside-down world. What this world is “awakening” to is Oneness on the broad way. Christianity’s new message is no different than that of the interfaith world: “Together as ONE we can change the world.” And remember, the effort will be on “healing, not proselytizing.” Christianity’s new message has supplanted the Gospel of Christ.
Along with the world, Christians today are seeking the power of all working together as ONE rather than the power of the one Lord God. This is upside down to the Kingdom of God.
“And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:34-38)
“They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.” (Titus 1:16)
Purpose #1: You Were Planned for God’s Pleasure
“Bringing enjoyment to God, living for his pleasure, is the first purpose of your life. When you fully understand this truth, you will never again have a problem with feeling insignificant. It proves your worth.” (PDL; p. 63; emphasis added)
“Bringing pleasure to God is called ‘worship.’” (PDL; p. 64)
“You only bring him [God] enjoyment by being you. Anytime you reject any part of yourself, you are rejecting God’s wisdom and sovereignty in creating you.” (PDL; p. 75; emphasis added)
Worship of God is not about being you. True worship of God is completely about the nature and worthiness of God, not about who you are or your worth. Furthermore, true worship of God is found in the fear and reverence that comes when we recognize and enjoy God for Who God really is, not when God enjoys who we are! Exactly who is worshipping whom in the purpose-driven definition of worship?
“Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.” (Psalm 29:2)
True worship of God that pleases God also consists of living a life of faith, righteousness, and obedience because God is worthy.
“That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.” (Colossians 1:10)
“I know also, my God, that thou triest the heart, and hast pleasure in uprightness.…” (1 Chronicles 29:17)
“So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.” (Romans 8:8)
Although the Lord Jesus Christ and His Word say otherwise, according to Rick Warren’s counsel we are not to reject any part of ourselves. In fact, he admonishes us to realize that God Himself wants us to worship Him by unloading all of our sinful, fleshly emotions on Him, “holding back nothing” of what we feel:
“In the Bible, the friends of God were honest about their feelings, often complaining, second-guessing, accusing, and arguing with their Creator. God, however, didn’t seem to be bothered by this frankness; in fact, he encouraged it.” (PDL; p.93; emphasis added)
“Tell God exactly how you feel. Pour out your heart to God. Unload every emotion that you’re feeling.… God can handle your doubt, anger, fear, grief, confusion, and questions.” (PDL; p. 110; emphasis added)
“To instruct us in candid honesty, God gave us the book of Psalms—a worship manual, full of ranting, raving, doubts, fears, resentments, and deep passions combined with thanksgiving, praise, and statements of faith. Every possible emotion is catalogued in the Psalms. When you read the emotional confessions of David and others, realize this is how God wants you to worship him—holding back nothing of what you feel.” [!] (PDL; p. 94; bold added)
“Can God handle that kind of frank, intense honesty from you? Absolutely!… What may appear as audacity God views as authenticity.” (PDL; p. 94)
This aspect of Rick Warren’s definition of “worship” is plainly all about you. We are free to be exactly who we are in the flesh, treat the loving Almighty Lord God far worse than dirt, and then proceed to the epitome of audacious and authentic defiance in referring to this as worship! This is what brings the Almighty Lord God pleasure and is what He is worthy of? This is part of Rick Warren’s first and foremost purpose for why we are here.
“Ye have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judgment?” (Malachi 2:17)
“The foolishness of man perverteth his way: and his heart fretteth against the Lord.” (Proverbs 19:3)
God makes it clear throughout His Word that He is not even close to being pleased with, nor does He even remotely encourage “resentments,” “ranting,” “raving,” “complaining,” or “accusing” Him. Rick Warren’s dangerous man-centered claim can only be derived at by twisting, ignoring, and taking unholy scissors to a multitude of Scriptures. “Candid honesty” or not, God does not “encourage” these sins, which these people, for example, definitely regretted (e.g., see also Numbers 11:18-20, 33):
“And when the people complained, it displeased the Lord: and the Lord heard it; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the Lord burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp.” (Numbers 11:1)
“Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?” (Isaiah 45:9)
“Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?” (Romans 9:20)
“Moreover the Lord answered Job, and said, Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it. Then Job answered the Lord, and said, Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth. Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further. Then answered the Lord unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said, Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?” (Job 40:1-8)
These people will also regret their man-centered “frank, intense honesty” with God:
“… Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage.” (Jude 1:14-16)
Contrary to leaders today, the apostle Paul gives genuine wise counsel that needs to be carefully heeded:
“Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” (1 Corinthians 10:9-12)
On the other hand, following Rick Warren’s counsel on how to “worship” will result in God’s anger and displeasure, according to His Holy Scriptures. True worship kneels before the Almighty Lord God in awe and reverence for Who He is. This is the opposite of Rick Warren’s man-centered “manifesto” that exalts who man is above the holy Lord God.
“Exalt ye the Lord our God, and worship at his footstool; for he is holy.” (Psalm 99:5)
“God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him.” (Psalm 89:7)
“Let all the earth fear the Lord: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.” (Psalm 33:8-9)
“And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?” (Daniel 4:35)
“Worship” mixed with the ugliness of man’s fleshly emotions is anything but holy, and no one, least of all the Almighty Lord God, deserves to be treated in such an irreverent manner. Rick Warren has done exactly what he says we should not do:
“But we cannot just create our own comfortable or politically correct image of God and worship it. That is idolatry.” (PDL; p. 101)
I couldn’t agree more. Yet you and the purposes of God, according to Rick Warren’s personal understanding of them, continue to be placed above the Person of God. Anything placed above God Himself is idolatry, especially so when fear of God, reverence, truth, and holiness are sacrificed in the process. And that includes music.
Offering the Strange Fire of Profane Music Is Not Worship of God
“The Church has sprung a leak and the world is leaking into the Church.” —A.W. Tozer1
Music is just one more area in Rick Warren’s worldly Purpose-Driven movement in which he has done exactly what he says we should not do. He has created his own comfortable image of God that lets him do what he likes:
“God loves all kinds of music because he invented it all … You probably don’t like it all, but God does! If it is offered to God in spirit and truth, it is an act of worship.” (PDL; p. 65)
“But God likes variety and enjoys it all.
“There is no such thing as ‘Christian’ music; there are only Christian lyrics. It is the words that make a song sacred, not the tune.” (PDL; p. 66)
First, “Christian lyrics” are increasingly man-centered and error-laden and as such would not be offered to God in spirit and in truth. Second, synthesizing “Christian lyrics” with the profane noises (“tunes”) that ‘musicians’ such as death metal bands and other bands in darkness create while they are stoned and blaspheming God, etcetera, would never make the songs from this wicked culture sacred and enjoyed by God! If you don’t think “Christian music” is extreme enough to rival ‘music’ from cultures of darkness, then you have never had the displeasure, to put it mildly, of hearing modern “Christian” bands scream Jesus’ name with a voice that sounds possessed, with a “tune” to match.
“[I]t takes all kinds of churches to reach all kinds of people.… In just the area of music alone, imagine all the styles of music needed to reach all the different cultures of our world.” —Rick Warren2
“Warren’s emphasis on approachable Christianity is reflected at Saddleback, where worshippers can choose from nearly two dozen services that feature different styles of live music, from heavy metal to reggae to hula.” —Associated Press, 4/9/053
Worldly music (complete with blatant secular lyrics) and “worship styles” that appeal to the flesh rather than the spirit is a big part of the purpose-driven transformation in churches. Purpose-driven “worship” is not about Who God is, therefore the “worship style” of today’s churches must match the people:
“What matters is that your worship style matches the people you are seeking to reach …” —Rick Warren4
“‘I’m never going to deny what I believe, but I’ve got to say it in a way that makes sense to the MTV generation in a postmodern world,’ Warren says. ‘Traditional churches think I’m changing the message, but all I’m doing is changing the method.’” —Chicago Sun-Times, 3/25/055
“I discovered that, of course, it takes all kinds of churches to reach all kinds of people. There is more than one way to grow a church and I say if you are getting the job done I like the way you are doing it. The only wrong way is the one way that you think that everybody should do it your way.
“What I began to see is that God uses all kinds of styles, all kinds of methods, all kinds of formats to reach all kinds of people.” —Rick Warren6
“The Purpose Driven model supports you as your church matches the worship style of those you are targeted to reach in the community.” —PurposeDriven (Emphasis added)7
And what exactly is the “worship” style of the MTV generation?! No wonder church services today resemble the world! It is not the image of Christ that churches are deliberately conforming to. This is clearly all about you, or mankind.
“Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man.… Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.” (Romans 1:22-23, 25)
In The Purpose-Driven Life, Rick Warren says:
“There is a right and wrong way to worship. The Bible says, ‘Let us be grateful and worship God in a way that will please him.’ [endnote: Hebrews 12:28 (TEV)]” (PDL; p. 100)
He even deleted the right way to worship from the verse he quotes on the subject. This verse specifically gives the right way, and thereby also the wrong way, to worship and serve God:
“Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12:28-29)
The version he quotes even ends the verse with, “with reverence and awe,” which he deleted. This deletion is consistent with today’s man-centered “worship.” The reverence and fear of God has obviously and purposefully been removed in order to cater to the unbelieving world.
“Human wisdom delights to trim and arrange the doctrines of the cross into a system more artificial and more congenial with the depraved tastes of fallen nature; instead, however, of improving the gospel carnal wisdom pollutes it, until it becomes another gospel, and not the truth of God at all.” —Charles H. Spurgeon8
The Lord God is not pleased with nor does He accept everything that is offered to Him in worship. He did not respect or accept Cain’s offering (see Genesis 4), and He did not accept the “strange fire” offered to Him by Nadab and Abihu. In fact, He killed them with fire for offering it (see Leviticus 10:1-2). Whether or not they believed their offering was offered in spirit and truth was irrelevant. What they were offering was disobedience (therefore apart from truth) and was not considered by God to be an act of worship.
Likewise, modern “worship” is not worship in spirit and in truth; it is “worship” in the flesh and in relativism. “Worship” that “matches the people” so is tailored according to who the unbelieving world is rather than Who God is, is indeed creating one’s own comfortable image of God to idolatrously worship. This has a great deal in common with the Israelites worship of the golden calf -- a worship style that led to the severe judgment of God resulting in the death of thousands and was then followed by a plague (see Exodus 32, especially verses 28 and 35).
God commands us to worship Him “in the beauty of holiness” (see Psalm 29:2 and 96:9). Rebellious refusal to separate from the things, beliefs, and ways of the flesh and the world and the profane is the opposite of holiness. Besides, offering profane things of the flesh to God—from “candid honesty” to “all kinds of music” and everything in between—is always about you, never about God.
“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.” (Galatians 6:7-8)
“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” (1 John 2:15-17)
It’s not how the masses view something that makes it right or wrong; it’s how God views it. And God knows why the ways and things of the world please the world. God says in His Word, “And be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) and, “Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity” (2 Timothy 2:19). Nevertheless, history continues to repeat itself -- “but every man did that which was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6 and 21:25).
In “Why We Are Lukewarm About Christ’s Return,” A.W. Tozer aptly described Christianity’s predilection for things of the world:
“Again, in these times religion has become jolly good fun right here in this present world, and what’s the hurry about heaven anyway? Christianity, contrary to what some had thought, is another and higher form of entertainment. Christ has done all the suffering. He has shed all the tears and carried all the crosses; we have but to enjoy the benefits of His heartbreak in the form of religious pleasures modeled after the world but carried on in the name of Jesus.…
“History reveals that times of suffering for the Church have also been times of looking upward. Tribulation has always sobered God’s people and encouraged them to look for and yearn after the return of their Lord. Our present preoccupation with this world may be a warning of bitter days to come. God will wean us from the earth some way—the easy way if possible, the hard way if necessary. It is up to us.”9
Charles Spurgeon also admonished:
“Beware of the leaven of worldly pleasure, for its working is silent but sure, and a little of it will leaven the whole lump. Keep up the distinction between a Christian and an unbeliever and make it clearer every day.…
“Avoid the appearance of evil. ‘But we must not be too rigid,’ says one. There is no fear of that in these days. You will never go too far in holiness, nor become too like your Lord Jesus. If anybody accuses you of being too strict and precise, do not grieve but try to deserve the charge. I cannot suppose that at the last great day our Lord Jesus Christ will say to anyone, ‘You were not worldly enough. You were too jealous over your conduct, and did not sufficiently conform to the world.’ No, my brethren, such a wrong is impossible. He Who said, ‘Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect,’ has set before you a standard beyond which you can never go.
“‘Well, but,’ says one, ‘are we to have no enjoyments?’ My dear friend, the enjoyments which are prepared for Christians are many and great, but they never include sin and folly. Do you call vice and folly amusements?…
“‘But,’ you say, ‘I would greatly enjoy a little of the pleasures of sin.’ Judge yourselves, then, to be falsely called children of God.…
“As for your Lord’s work, be bound to the altar of Christ and be united for ever to Him, and I am sure you will not find that you are losers by giving up worldly pleasures.” (Emphasis added)10
“For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.” (Titus 2:11-15)
“Christianizing” or “churching” things of the world, as well as pleasing the world under the guise of pleasing God, is still sowing to the flesh, and God is not mocked. People will reap what they sow. In “Feeding Sheep or Amusing Goats?” Charles Spurgeon further admonished:
“The devil has seldom done a cleverer thing than hinting to the church that part of their mission is to provide entertainment for the people, with a view to winning them.
“From speaking out as the Puritans did, the church has gradually toned down her testimony, then winked at and excused the frivolities of the day. Then she tolerated them in her borders. Now she has adopted them under the plea of reaching the masses.…
“If it is a Christian work, why did not Christ speak of it? ‘Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature’ (Mark 16:15). That is clear enough. So it would have been if He had added, ‘and provide amusement for those who do not relish the gospel.’ No such words, however, are to be found.…
“Then again, ‘He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some evangelists; and some pastors and teachers .., for the work of the ministry’ (Eph. 4:11-12). Where do entertainers come in?… Were the prophets persecuted because they amused the people or because they refused?…
“Again, providing amusement is in direct antagonism to the teaching and life of Christ and all his apostles. What was the attitude of the church to the world? Ye are the salt (Matt. 5:13), not the sugar candy—something the world will spit out not swallow.…
“Had Christ introduced more of the bright and pleasant elements into his mission, he would have been more popular when they went back … I do not hear him say, ‘Run after these people Peter and tell them we will have a different style of service tomorrow, something short and attractive with little preaching. We will have a pleasant evening for the people. Tell them they will be sure to enjoy it. Be quick Peter, we must get the people somehow.’ Jesus pitied sinners, sighed and wept over them, but never sought to amuse them.
“In vain will the Epistles be searched to find any trace of this gospel of amusement! Their message is, ‘Come out, keep out, keep clean out!’… They had boundless confidence in the gospel and employed no other weapon.
“After Peter and John were locked up for preaching, the church had a prayer meeting but they did not pray, ‘Lord grant unto thy servants that by a wise and discriminating use of innocent recreation we may show these people how happy we are.’ If they ceased not from preaching Christ, they had not time for arranging entertainments. Scattered by persecution, they went everywhere preaching the gospel.… Lord, clear the church of all the rot and rubbish the devil has imposed on her, and bring us back to apostolic methods.” (Emphasis added)11
“The Foolishness of Preaching”
When worship is no longer about God, preaching becomes “outdated”:
“The message must never change, but the methods must change. If you change the message, you are a heretic.… At the same time, however, I also believe that if you continue to share it in an outdated mode, for instance, like a preaching style that was effective a hundred years ago, you are actually making the message watered down because people can’t hear it.” —Rick Warren12
“Are you being faithful to God’s Word if you insist on communicating it in an outdated style?… I contend that when a church continues to use methods that no longer work, it is being unfaithful to Christ!” —Rick Warren13
Methods of relativism will inevitably change a message of absolutism. And this is exactly what is happening.
Unbelievably, preachers of “a hundred years ago,” such as Charles Spurgeon, if alive today and preaching in their “outdated” “preaching style” would be considered guilty of watering down the Gospel and being unfaithful to Christ. Yet people today who cut gaping holes in the Gospel and change the message by changing the methods to cater to the unbelieving world are highly praised, modeled after, and viewed as faithful to God’s Word!
Today’s Christianity clearly doesn’t realize that God’s message and method are tied together because of the nature of His light, which is God Himself and His Word. Preaching the Word of God is God’s message and method because it is in the light of God, not in the ways of the world, that mankind is enlightened in understanding His truth.
“O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles.” (Psalm 43:3)
“Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.” (1 Peter 1:23-25)
“Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.” (Colossians 1:26-28)
“That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” (John 1:9)
Nevertheless, preaching is considered to be old-fashioned foolishness by today’s leaders who prefer to follow the world’s ‘wisdom’ and cater to the world’s chosen wickedness. Yet God Himself is the One Who chose “the foolishness of preaching”:
“For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence.” (1 Corinthians 1:18-29)
The apostle Paul did not cater to what the Jews or the Greeks wanted. Even knowing that his message and method would be a stumblingblock and considered foolishness to them, he served God, not man, and preached Christ crucified whether they would hear or not. Obedience, not results, is the greater issue.
“But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” (Galatians 6:14)
The apostle Paul’s faithfulness was to God and to His Word, not to the world. This refusal to compromise led to his and the other apostles being “made a spectacle unto the world,” viewed as “fools,” “despised” and “defamed,” and “made as the filth of the world” and “the offscouring of all things” (see 1 Corinthians 4:9-10, 13).
There is quite a difference between how the world viewed God’s faithful back then who “hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 15:26) and how it views many of Christianity’s leaders today! The world loves getting its itching ears tickled, and compromising leaders today are quick to please, unlike the true apostles who refused to stop preaching the Lord Jesus Christ even when covered with bloody stripes.
“… and when they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.” (Acts 5:40-42)
Unlike the leaders today who are afraid to offend anyone, the apostles suffered all of this willingly, refusing to be ashamed of the Rock of Offence and His truth that greatly offend the world.
“Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God; who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel: Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.” (2 Timothy 1:8-13)
It is God’s message and methods that save, not the world’s. This is true in every generation. Tickling the world’s itching ears and calling its ways “worship” will not change anyone’s aversion to hearing the true message. Nor does this bring pleasure to God.
“And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.” (Luke 16:15)
In his generation, Tozer also faced “advocates of compromise” who sought to make the world “feel at home” in the churches:
“Any evangelism which by appeal to common interests and chatter about current events seeks to establish a common ground where the sinner can feel at home is as false as the altars of Baal ever were.…
“One of the most popular current errors, and … being carried on in evangelical circles these days, is the notion that as times change the church must change with them. Christians must adapt their methods by the demands of the people.… go along with them—give them what they want. ‘The message is the same, only the method changes,’ say the advocates of compromise.” —A.W. Tozer14
Yet Tozer stood his ground against the crowd who insisted on the necessity of conforming to the times and finding common ground with everybody:
“The fish that goes along with the current hasn’t any trouble with the current, but as soon as he starts the other way the current gets sore at him. Just as long as you go the way the wind blows, everybody will say you’re very fine and commend you for being deeply religious. If you decide to go God’s way instead of the way the wind blows they’ll say that your roof leaks or that something has happened to you that you’re a fanatic. You can go along with the times or you can be like Zechariah and Elizabeth and refuse to go along with the times. Personally I’ve decided that a long time ago. They say that if you don’t conform to the times and find a common ground for getting along with everybody that nobody will listen to you. The more I’m nonconformist the more people want to hear me.” —A.W. Tozer15
“I’ve been told that I’ve missed the boat but I reply that I wasn’t trying to catch that boat. That boat and a lot of others like it can go on without me and I’ll be quite happy. We can conform to the religion of our times if we want to.
“I weigh 145 pounds dripping wet, but I stand here to tell you that I’m a nonconformist, twice born, and a rebel and I will not conform to the times. Up to now I’ve been able to get a hearing and refused to conform to the times. But if a day ever comes when to conform to the times is the price you have to pay to be heard, then I’ll go out and start where I started before on the street corner and preach there. But I won’t conform to the times.
“They say you are supposed to do it. They say, ‘Don’t you know we have the same message but it’s just different times we’re living in.’ I know the voice of the serpent when I hear it. The hiss of the serpent is in that and I recognize that. So we can either conform or we can withdraw from the whole business, and Paul says, ‘From such turn away.’” —A.W. Tozer16
“Heresy of method may be as deadly as heresy of message.” —A.W. Tozer17
The unfruitful works of darkness used to be warned against by Christianity’s leaders. Now, Christianity largely dismisses the earnest warnings of the few with laughter or antagonism or marginalization, while it participates in the works of darkness and calls them “worship.”
“Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel.” (Philippians 1:27)
“Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: but as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:13-16)
“Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go. O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea.” (Isaiah 48:17-18)
“Bringing pleasure to God is called ‘worship.’” (PDL; p. 64)
“You only bring him [God] enjoyment by being you. Anytime you reject any part of yourself, you are rejecting God’s wisdom and sovereignty in creating you.” (PDL; p. 75; emphasis added)
Worship of God is not about being you. True worship of God is completely about the nature and worthiness of God, not about who you are or your worth. Furthermore, true worship of God is found in the fear and reverence that comes when we recognize and enjoy God for Who God really is, not when God enjoys who we are! Exactly who is worshipping whom in the purpose-driven definition of worship?
“Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.” (Psalm 29:2)
True worship of God that pleases God also consists of living a life of faith, righteousness, and obedience because God is worthy.
“That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.” (Colossians 1:10)
“I know also, my God, that thou triest the heart, and hast pleasure in uprightness.…” (1 Chronicles 29:17)
“So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.” (Romans 8:8)
Although the Lord Jesus Christ and His Word say otherwise, according to Rick Warren’s counsel we are not to reject any part of ourselves. In fact, he admonishes us to realize that God Himself wants us to worship Him by unloading all of our sinful, fleshly emotions on Him, “holding back nothing” of what we feel:
“In the Bible, the friends of God were honest about their feelings, often complaining, second-guessing, accusing, and arguing with their Creator. God, however, didn’t seem to be bothered by this frankness; in fact, he encouraged it.” (PDL; p.93; emphasis added)
“Tell God exactly how you feel. Pour out your heart to God. Unload every emotion that you’re feeling.… God can handle your doubt, anger, fear, grief, confusion, and questions.” (PDL; p. 110; emphasis added)
“To instruct us in candid honesty, God gave us the book of Psalms—a worship manual, full of ranting, raving, doubts, fears, resentments, and deep passions combined with thanksgiving, praise, and statements of faith. Every possible emotion is catalogued in the Psalms. When you read the emotional confessions of David and others, realize this is how God wants you to worship him—holding back nothing of what you feel.” [!] (PDL; p. 94; bold added)
“Can God handle that kind of frank, intense honesty from you? Absolutely!… What may appear as audacity God views as authenticity.” (PDL; p. 94)
This aspect of Rick Warren’s definition of “worship” is plainly all about you. We are free to be exactly who we are in the flesh, treat the loving Almighty Lord God far worse than dirt, and then proceed to the epitome of audacious and authentic defiance in referring to this as worship! This is what brings the Almighty Lord God pleasure and is what He is worthy of? This is part of Rick Warren’s first and foremost purpose for why we are here.
“Ye have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judgment?” (Malachi 2:17)
“The foolishness of man perverteth his way: and his heart fretteth against the Lord.” (Proverbs 19:3)
God makes it clear throughout His Word that He is not even close to being pleased with, nor does He even remotely encourage “resentments,” “ranting,” “raving,” “complaining,” or “accusing” Him. Rick Warren’s dangerous man-centered claim can only be derived at by twisting, ignoring, and taking unholy scissors to a multitude of Scriptures. “Candid honesty” or not, God does not “encourage” these sins, which these people, for example, definitely regretted (e.g., see also Numbers 11:18-20, 33):
“And when the people complained, it displeased the Lord: and the Lord heard it; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the Lord burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp.” (Numbers 11:1)
“Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?” (Isaiah 45:9)
“Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?” (Romans 9:20)
“Moreover the Lord answered Job, and said, Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it. Then Job answered the Lord, and said, Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth. Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further. Then answered the Lord unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said, Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?” (Job 40:1-8)
These people will also regret their man-centered “frank, intense honesty” with God:
“… Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage.” (Jude 1:14-16)
Contrary to leaders today, the apostle Paul gives genuine wise counsel that needs to be carefully heeded:
“Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” (1 Corinthians 10:9-12)
On the other hand, following Rick Warren’s counsel on how to “worship” will result in God’s anger and displeasure, according to His Holy Scriptures. True worship kneels before the Almighty Lord God in awe and reverence for Who He is. This is the opposite of Rick Warren’s man-centered “manifesto” that exalts who man is above the holy Lord God.
“Exalt ye the Lord our God, and worship at his footstool; for he is holy.” (Psalm 99:5)
“God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him.” (Psalm 89:7)
“Let all the earth fear the Lord: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.” (Psalm 33:8-9)
“And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?” (Daniel 4:35)
“Worship” mixed with the ugliness of man’s fleshly emotions is anything but holy, and no one, least of all the Almighty Lord God, deserves to be treated in such an irreverent manner. Rick Warren has done exactly what he says we should not do:
“But we cannot just create our own comfortable or politically correct image of God and worship it. That is idolatry.” (PDL; p. 101)
I couldn’t agree more. Yet you and the purposes of God, according to Rick Warren’s personal understanding of them, continue to be placed above the Person of God. Anything placed above God Himself is idolatry, especially so when fear of God, reverence, truth, and holiness are sacrificed in the process. And that includes music.
Offering the Strange Fire of Profane Music Is Not Worship of God
“The Church has sprung a leak and the world is leaking into the Church.” —A.W. Tozer1
Music is just one more area in Rick Warren’s worldly Purpose-Driven movement in which he has done exactly what he says we should not do. He has created his own comfortable image of God that lets him do what he likes:
“God loves all kinds of music because he invented it all … You probably don’t like it all, but God does! If it is offered to God in spirit and truth, it is an act of worship.” (PDL; p. 65)
“But God likes variety and enjoys it all.
“There is no such thing as ‘Christian’ music; there are only Christian lyrics. It is the words that make a song sacred, not the tune.” (PDL; p. 66)
First, “Christian lyrics” are increasingly man-centered and error-laden and as such would not be offered to God in spirit and in truth. Second, synthesizing “Christian lyrics” with the profane noises (“tunes”) that ‘musicians’ such as death metal bands and other bands in darkness create while they are stoned and blaspheming God, etcetera, would never make the songs from this wicked culture sacred and enjoyed by God! If you don’t think “Christian music” is extreme enough to rival ‘music’ from cultures of darkness, then you have never had the displeasure, to put it mildly, of hearing modern “Christian” bands scream Jesus’ name with a voice that sounds possessed, with a “tune” to match.
“[I]t takes all kinds of churches to reach all kinds of people.… In just the area of music alone, imagine all the styles of music needed to reach all the different cultures of our world.” —Rick Warren2
“Warren’s emphasis on approachable Christianity is reflected at Saddleback, where worshippers can choose from nearly two dozen services that feature different styles of live music, from heavy metal to reggae to hula.” —Associated Press, 4/9/053
Worldly music (complete with blatant secular lyrics) and “worship styles” that appeal to the flesh rather than the spirit is a big part of the purpose-driven transformation in churches. Purpose-driven “worship” is not about Who God is, therefore the “worship style” of today’s churches must match the people:
“What matters is that your worship style matches the people you are seeking to reach …” —Rick Warren4
“‘I’m never going to deny what I believe, but I’ve got to say it in a way that makes sense to the MTV generation in a postmodern world,’ Warren says. ‘Traditional churches think I’m changing the message, but all I’m doing is changing the method.’” —Chicago Sun-Times, 3/25/055
“I discovered that, of course, it takes all kinds of churches to reach all kinds of people. There is more than one way to grow a church and I say if you are getting the job done I like the way you are doing it. The only wrong way is the one way that you think that everybody should do it your way.
“What I began to see is that God uses all kinds of styles, all kinds of methods, all kinds of formats to reach all kinds of people.” —Rick Warren6
“The Purpose Driven model supports you as your church matches the worship style of those you are targeted to reach in the community.” —PurposeDriven (Emphasis added)7
And what exactly is the “worship” style of the MTV generation?! No wonder church services today resemble the world! It is not the image of Christ that churches are deliberately conforming to. This is clearly all about you, or mankind.
“Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man.… Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.” (Romans 1:22-23, 25)
In The Purpose-Driven Life, Rick Warren says:
“There is a right and wrong way to worship. The Bible says, ‘Let us be grateful and worship God in a way that will please him.’ [endnote: Hebrews 12:28 (TEV)]” (PDL; p. 100)
He even deleted the right way to worship from the verse he quotes on the subject. This verse specifically gives the right way, and thereby also the wrong way, to worship and serve God:
“Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12:28-29)
The version he quotes even ends the verse with, “with reverence and awe,” which he deleted. This deletion is consistent with today’s man-centered “worship.” The reverence and fear of God has obviously and purposefully been removed in order to cater to the unbelieving world.
“Human wisdom delights to trim and arrange the doctrines of the cross into a system more artificial and more congenial with the depraved tastes of fallen nature; instead, however, of improving the gospel carnal wisdom pollutes it, until it becomes another gospel, and not the truth of God at all.” —Charles H. Spurgeon8
The Lord God is not pleased with nor does He accept everything that is offered to Him in worship. He did not respect or accept Cain’s offering (see Genesis 4), and He did not accept the “strange fire” offered to Him by Nadab and Abihu. In fact, He killed them with fire for offering it (see Leviticus 10:1-2). Whether or not they believed their offering was offered in spirit and truth was irrelevant. What they were offering was disobedience (therefore apart from truth) and was not considered by God to be an act of worship.
Likewise, modern “worship” is not worship in spirit and in truth; it is “worship” in the flesh and in relativism. “Worship” that “matches the people” so is tailored according to who the unbelieving world is rather than Who God is, is indeed creating one’s own comfortable image of God to idolatrously worship. This has a great deal in common with the Israelites worship of the golden calf -- a worship style that led to the severe judgment of God resulting in the death of thousands and was then followed by a plague (see Exodus 32, especially verses 28 and 35).
God commands us to worship Him “in the beauty of holiness” (see Psalm 29:2 and 96:9). Rebellious refusal to separate from the things, beliefs, and ways of the flesh and the world and the profane is the opposite of holiness. Besides, offering profane things of the flesh to God—from “candid honesty” to “all kinds of music” and everything in between—is always about you, never about God.
“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.” (Galatians 6:7-8)
“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” (1 John 2:15-17)
It’s not how the masses view something that makes it right or wrong; it’s how God views it. And God knows why the ways and things of the world please the world. God says in His Word, “And be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) and, “Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity” (2 Timothy 2:19). Nevertheless, history continues to repeat itself -- “but every man did that which was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6 and 21:25).
In “Why We Are Lukewarm About Christ’s Return,” A.W. Tozer aptly described Christianity’s predilection for things of the world:
“Again, in these times religion has become jolly good fun right here in this present world, and what’s the hurry about heaven anyway? Christianity, contrary to what some had thought, is another and higher form of entertainment. Christ has done all the suffering. He has shed all the tears and carried all the crosses; we have but to enjoy the benefits of His heartbreak in the form of religious pleasures modeled after the world but carried on in the name of Jesus.…
“History reveals that times of suffering for the Church have also been times of looking upward. Tribulation has always sobered God’s people and encouraged them to look for and yearn after the return of their Lord. Our present preoccupation with this world may be a warning of bitter days to come. God will wean us from the earth some way—the easy way if possible, the hard way if necessary. It is up to us.”9
Charles Spurgeon also admonished:
“Beware of the leaven of worldly pleasure, for its working is silent but sure, and a little of it will leaven the whole lump. Keep up the distinction between a Christian and an unbeliever and make it clearer every day.…
“Avoid the appearance of evil. ‘But we must not be too rigid,’ says one. There is no fear of that in these days. You will never go too far in holiness, nor become too like your Lord Jesus. If anybody accuses you of being too strict and precise, do not grieve but try to deserve the charge. I cannot suppose that at the last great day our Lord Jesus Christ will say to anyone, ‘You were not worldly enough. You were too jealous over your conduct, and did not sufficiently conform to the world.’ No, my brethren, such a wrong is impossible. He Who said, ‘Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect,’ has set before you a standard beyond which you can never go.
“‘Well, but,’ says one, ‘are we to have no enjoyments?’ My dear friend, the enjoyments which are prepared for Christians are many and great, but they never include sin and folly. Do you call vice and folly amusements?…
“‘But,’ you say, ‘I would greatly enjoy a little of the pleasures of sin.’ Judge yourselves, then, to be falsely called children of God.…
“As for your Lord’s work, be bound to the altar of Christ and be united for ever to Him, and I am sure you will not find that you are losers by giving up worldly pleasures.” (Emphasis added)10
“For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.” (Titus 2:11-15)
“Christianizing” or “churching” things of the world, as well as pleasing the world under the guise of pleasing God, is still sowing to the flesh, and God is not mocked. People will reap what they sow. In “Feeding Sheep or Amusing Goats?” Charles Spurgeon further admonished:
“The devil has seldom done a cleverer thing than hinting to the church that part of their mission is to provide entertainment for the people, with a view to winning them.
“From speaking out as the Puritans did, the church has gradually toned down her testimony, then winked at and excused the frivolities of the day. Then she tolerated them in her borders. Now she has adopted them under the plea of reaching the masses.…
“If it is a Christian work, why did not Christ speak of it? ‘Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature’ (Mark 16:15). That is clear enough. So it would have been if He had added, ‘and provide amusement for those who do not relish the gospel.’ No such words, however, are to be found.…
“Then again, ‘He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some evangelists; and some pastors and teachers .., for the work of the ministry’ (Eph. 4:11-12). Where do entertainers come in?… Were the prophets persecuted because they amused the people or because they refused?…
“Again, providing amusement is in direct antagonism to the teaching and life of Christ and all his apostles. What was the attitude of the church to the world? Ye are the salt (Matt. 5:13), not the sugar candy—something the world will spit out not swallow.…
“Had Christ introduced more of the bright and pleasant elements into his mission, he would have been more popular when they went back … I do not hear him say, ‘Run after these people Peter and tell them we will have a different style of service tomorrow, something short and attractive with little preaching. We will have a pleasant evening for the people. Tell them they will be sure to enjoy it. Be quick Peter, we must get the people somehow.’ Jesus pitied sinners, sighed and wept over them, but never sought to amuse them.
“In vain will the Epistles be searched to find any trace of this gospel of amusement! Their message is, ‘Come out, keep out, keep clean out!’… They had boundless confidence in the gospel and employed no other weapon.
“After Peter and John were locked up for preaching, the church had a prayer meeting but they did not pray, ‘Lord grant unto thy servants that by a wise and discriminating use of innocent recreation we may show these people how happy we are.’ If they ceased not from preaching Christ, they had not time for arranging entertainments. Scattered by persecution, they went everywhere preaching the gospel.… Lord, clear the church of all the rot and rubbish the devil has imposed on her, and bring us back to apostolic methods.” (Emphasis added)11
“The Foolishness of Preaching”
When worship is no longer about God, preaching becomes “outdated”:
“The message must never change, but the methods must change. If you change the message, you are a heretic.… At the same time, however, I also believe that if you continue to share it in an outdated mode, for instance, like a preaching style that was effective a hundred years ago, you are actually making the message watered down because people can’t hear it.” —Rick Warren12
“Are you being faithful to God’s Word if you insist on communicating it in an outdated style?… I contend that when a church continues to use methods that no longer work, it is being unfaithful to Christ!” —Rick Warren13
Methods of relativism will inevitably change a message of absolutism. And this is exactly what is happening.
Unbelievably, preachers of “a hundred years ago,” such as Charles Spurgeon, if alive today and preaching in their “outdated” “preaching style” would be considered guilty of watering down the Gospel and being unfaithful to Christ. Yet people today who cut gaping holes in the Gospel and change the message by changing the methods to cater to the unbelieving world are highly praised, modeled after, and viewed as faithful to God’s Word!
Today’s Christianity clearly doesn’t realize that God’s message and method are tied together because of the nature of His light, which is God Himself and His Word. Preaching the Word of God is God’s message and method because it is in the light of God, not in the ways of the world, that mankind is enlightened in understanding His truth.
“O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles.” (Psalm 43:3)
“Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.” (1 Peter 1:23-25)
“Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.” (Colossians 1:26-28)
“That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” (John 1:9)
Nevertheless, preaching is considered to be old-fashioned foolishness by today’s leaders who prefer to follow the world’s ‘wisdom’ and cater to the world’s chosen wickedness. Yet God Himself is the One Who chose “the foolishness of preaching”:
“For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence.” (1 Corinthians 1:18-29)
The apostle Paul did not cater to what the Jews or the Greeks wanted. Even knowing that his message and method would be a stumblingblock and considered foolishness to them, he served God, not man, and preached Christ crucified whether they would hear or not. Obedience, not results, is the greater issue.
“But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” (Galatians 6:14)
The apostle Paul’s faithfulness was to God and to His Word, not to the world. This refusal to compromise led to his and the other apostles being “made a spectacle unto the world,” viewed as “fools,” “despised” and “defamed,” and “made as the filth of the world” and “the offscouring of all things” (see 1 Corinthians 4:9-10, 13).
There is quite a difference between how the world viewed God’s faithful back then who “hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 15:26) and how it views many of Christianity’s leaders today! The world loves getting its itching ears tickled, and compromising leaders today are quick to please, unlike the true apostles who refused to stop preaching the Lord Jesus Christ even when covered with bloody stripes.
“… and when they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.” (Acts 5:40-42)
Unlike the leaders today who are afraid to offend anyone, the apostles suffered all of this willingly, refusing to be ashamed of the Rock of Offence and His truth that greatly offend the world.
“Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God; who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel: Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.” (2 Timothy 1:8-13)
It is God’s message and methods that save, not the world’s. This is true in every generation. Tickling the world’s itching ears and calling its ways “worship” will not change anyone’s aversion to hearing the true message. Nor does this bring pleasure to God.
“And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.” (Luke 16:15)
In his generation, Tozer also faced “advocates of compromise” who sought to make the world “feel at home” in the churches:
“Any evangelism which by appeal to common interests and chatter about current events seeks to establish a common ground where the sinner can feel at home is as false as the altars of Baal ever were.…
“One of the most popular current errors, and … being carried on in evangelical circles these days, is the notion that as times change the church must change with them. Christians must adapt their methods by the demands of the people.… go along with them—give them what they want. ‘The message is the same, only the method changes,’ say the advocates of compromise.” —A.W. Tozer14
Yet Tozer stood his ground against the crowd who insisted on the necessity of conforming to the times and finding common ground with everybody:
“The fish that goes along with the current hasn’t any trouble with the current, but as soon as he starts the other way the current gets sore at him. Just as long as you go the way the wind blows, everybody will say you’re very fine and commend you for being deeply religious. If you decide to go God’s way instead of the way the wind blows they’ll say that your roof leaks or that something has happened to you that you’re a fanatic. You can go along with the times or you can be like Zechariah and Elizabeth and refuse to go along with the times. Personally I’ve decided that a long time ago. They say that if you don’t conform to the times and find a common ground for getting along with everybody that nobody will listen to you. The more I’m nonconformist the more people want to hear me.” —A.W. Tozer15
“I’ve been told that I’ve missed the boat but I reply that I wasn’t trying to catch that boat. That boat and a lot of others like it can go on without me and I’ll be quite happy. We can conform to the religion of our times if we want to.
“I weigh 145 pounds dripping wet, but I stand here to tell you that I’m a nonconformist, twice born, and a rebel and I will not conform to the times. Up to now I’ve been able to get a hearing and refused to conform to the times. But if a day ever comes when to conform to the times is the price you have to pay to be heard, then I’ll go out and start where I started before on the street corner and preach there. But I won’t conform to the times.
“They say you are supposed to do it. They say, ‘Don’t you know we have the same message but it’s just different times we’re living in.’ I know the voice of the serpent when I hear it. The hiss of the serpent is in that and I recognize that. So we can either conform or we can withdraw from the whole business, and Paul says, ‘From such turn away.’” —A.W. Tozer16
“Heresy of method may be as deadly as heresy of message.” —A.W. Tozer17
The unfruitful works of darkness used to be warned against by Christianity’s leaders. Now, Christianity largely dismisses the earnest warnings of the few with laughter or antagonism or marginalization, while it participates in the works of darkness and calls them “worship.”
“Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel.” (Philippians 1:27)
“Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: but as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:13-16)
“Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go. O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea.” (Isaiah 48:17-18)
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