I read through a number of articles from CT last night. This magazine is commonly referred to as "Christianity Astray" because it often promotes the new liberalism of the day.
I saw Rick Warren the other day on Oprah. I was sad he did not mention the gospel even though he had a great platform to do so. He did mention his "Purpose Driven" book among other things.......
The new issue of CT has Warren on the cover (pp 32ff). He is trying to be an advocate for social issues. Rwanda is going to be the first "Purpose Driven Country." Pastors in Africa walk many miles to download Warren's Sunday AM sermonettes. His influence is not limited to America.
He was considered by TIME the 2nd most influential Evangelical living today. Warren is a multi-millionaire with book sales for PDL and PDC topping 26 million books. At one point, the Purpose Driven Life sold up to 1 million copies a month. Oprah said she read Warren's book and was really moved by it (whatever that means). I would never want to write a Christian book that unbelievers can read and not be convicted after reading it through. Joel Osteen has the same type of popular approach in his preaching. I had a friend from a previous job who was living with her boyfriend who absolutely loved Joel's preaching. I guess she "discovered the champion" in herself. :) There are many good critiques on these books/authors already in print so i won't waste your time here.
Warren PD curriculum has trained 400,000 pastors from 162 nations. His influence is MAJOR, to say the least. From the CT article it appears Warren has moved towards a "social gospel." This is nothing new. Many pastor's have warned us of this thing for some time now.
On a positive side, some of the seeker friendly gurus have used their multi-millionaire dollar empires to help the poverty problem in Africa. I believe God can use anyone to accomplish anything according to His sovereign plan. Helping AIDS orphans is always a good thing.
My prayer is that Warren, Wilkinson, and others don't water down the gospel message in their efforts to help Africa. Sadly, i don't think theology and doctrine are high priorities in the Seeker-Driven ministry. This ties in with my previous post and sermon on Luke 16:31 (see yesterday's post).
CT also has an interesting article on "Seminaries" (pp 100ff). If read discerningly it is a good read. It shows the new thinking behind the modern Evangelical seminary movement. Some of it is good, but much of it is scary. There are not many quality seminaries and Christian colleges left out there.
Think Biblically.
1 More Thing: I leave you with one quote from the President of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, "I do not believe for us as Lutherans, human sexuality is a church defining or church-dividing isssue....We can live with some ambiguity about these questions." Mark Hanson
5 comments:
I will include a link of a review written by a friend, Nathan Busenitz entitled, "The Gospel According to Hybels and Warren."
Hybels and Warren are both disciples of Robert Schuller.
Brandon,
I have read all of Purpose Driven Youth Ministry (Warren's Ast) and have read most of Purpose Driven Church (Warren). I have not read Purpose Driven Life but have read many critiques of it. "Fool's Gold" is a good book that deals with many of these issues.
I would suggest you read PDC and PDL before endorsing Rick Warren. (I'm guessing you would say your blog was NOT meant to be an endorsement of Warren's ministry though).
I believe it is fair to ask some one to try and read another author fairly before critiquing it. I also think one should read an author's work before endorsing it (or him) as well.
I have heard Joel Osteen preach on many occasions. I have not read his new book (and don't plan to).
Since you have not read any of Warren's book or even the recent CT articles it makes it difficult to discuss the warrants of Rick Warren's philosophy of ministry with you. Perhaps after you read those books you will share with me your feedback. I honestly would be interested to hear what you think?
Let me say that I (like almost every other pastor) do not have time to read as many books as I'd like. I don't have time to read the "good ones" let alone time to read every "sketchy one" that comes along. Books like the Prayer of Jabez are easy to read since they are so short. Books like Brian McClaren's "A New Kind of Christian" require much more time.
Often times i depend on men i trust to help critique a new movement for me. If men like Phil Johnson, Al Mohler, John MacArthur, DA Carson, James Whites, fellow TMS graduates, etc are coming to the same convictions/conclusions about something or someone I know i'm standing on pretty solid ground.
The Seeker Sensitive movement has been well critiqued by many men more discerning then myself. Very few people i know (like the one's i mentioned above) believe it is a healthy movement.
Does this mean i do not come to my own convictions? That i don't think for myself? Of course not! But it does mean i look to others for assistance on hot button theological movements. I look to those whom i value. Men who esteem the Word, the truth, theology, doctrine, etc.
I am interested what you thought of my critique regarding the Seeker movement (which Warren and Hybels are chief spokesmen for), during my past Luke 16:31 sermon?
Did you think my sermon was off?
Do you think Pastor MacArthur's evaluation of the current church trends was fair? (see previous blog)
Do you think Carson, MacArthur, Mohler, and Johnson have wrongly portrayed the Seeker movement and the new Emerging Church movement?
I appreciate your honesty and your thoughts. Hopefully i answered most of your questions. Please try and do so for me if you can. I know you're super busy so no pressure. :) I know with blogging you can't promise people you'll respond since you never know if you'll have the time to do so.
I am thankful you and Shannon are posting comments. My other friends are not super interested in doing so. ;) I guess that reflects how lame my blog site is. hahaha. Oh well.
Shannon,
I am not ignoring you. Thank you for your thoughts/comments. I am hoping you and Brandon make a post on my blog from a few days ago that talks about "privacy" and the Christian walk. I trying to think of all the Bible verses that would address this subject......
I know all the verses that talk about a shepherds role to his sheep imply an intimate and personal relationship... How can you fulfill your ministry if you're not involved in peoples lives. What do you do if people won't let you close? That is the bigger issue. Anyways thanks for your encouragement.
Here are the reviews i promised everyone by Nathan Busenitz.
http://www.biblebb.com/files/pdl.htm
http://www.biblebb.com/files/pdc.htm
http://www.biblebb.com/files/gathw.htm
• A STATEMENT FROM GRACE TO YOU:
John MacArthur
on CNN's NewsNight with Aaron Brown
On Wednesday, March 16, [2005] CNN interviewed John MacArthur about The Purpose-Driven Life for a special broadcast of NewsNight with Aaron Brown (Paula Zahn substituting). John agreed to the interview because we saw it as an opportunity to clarify some important gospel truths that have been obscured in all the publicity surrounding the book's popularity.
John's critical comments about the book were brief but substantive. He highlighted some significant points where the thrust of the book is [at] odds with the message of Scripture. He pointed out, for example, that the true gospel is a call to self-denial, not self-fulfillment. The gospel is a message about redemption, not about life's purpose. The gospel according to Scripture deals with God's law, His grace, human depravity, redemption from sin, justification, sanctification, holiness, the nature of saving faith, and the lordship of Christ. And the true gospel's most essential features are the cross of Christ and the truth of the resurrection. None of those subjects is dealt with adequately or biblically in The Purpose-Driven Life.
In their own post-production editing process, however, CNN removed virtually all the substantive comments from their interview with John MacArthur. A voice-over by the CNN reporter introduced John MacArthur as someone who "preaches the gospel of a stern God," while the subtext identified John as a "skeptic."
CNN also inserted some remarks from secular media experts who seemed to think petty jealousy is the only motive two pastors might possibly have for disagreeing with one another. They made numerical comparisons between Grace Community Church and Saddleback, accompanied by a comment from a local newspaper's religion writer who declared that the difference between Warren and MacArthur was merely a dispute over two different marketing methods.
All of this gave a spin to CNN's interview that utterly misrepresents our concerns about the Purpose-Driven phenomenon. John MacArthur's criticism of this approach is not new, and it is not motivated by anything personal. We have been pleading for a more biblical approach to church leadership and evangelistic ministry for many years. John MacArthur's 1993 book Ashamed of the Gospel sounded this very alarm two years before Rick Warren published his first book describing his philosophy of ministry.
So the concerns we have raised are biblical and substantive, and not merely personal criticisms of Rick Warren. We wish the CNN interview had made those facts clear. We have certainly tried our best to make them clear.
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Comments from emails we recently received:
"I 'accidentally' stumbled on your web site while doing a search on Rick Warren’s book “The Purpose Driven Life”. What started it was receiving some info from Grace to You about Dr. MacArthur’s latest book [Fool's Gold] dealing with current trends in the church ('seeker sensitive movement', The Purpose Driven Life, etc). The church we attend went through Warren’s series last year. My wife and I attended one of the Bible studies that accompanied the series. While some of the material was good, it left me wanting (kind of like a glass of Coke, where all of the ice has melted – yeah…it’s cold, but weak – very weak). The book and movement seems (at least to me) to be a quick fix, a panacea to get people more involved in their churches and concerned about the things of God. It almost smacked of one of the latest 'pop psychology' quick fixes. Kind of like cotton candy – looks good, tastes good, devoid of anything worthwhile. It almost reminds me of some of the crazy movements that Christians tend to embrace. Finding your site was a breath of fresh air.
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"I want to thank you for your comments with regard to this book. I began a few weeks ago to teach this book due to so many having the desire to study it. I'm sorry I did. Keeping up with what I feel doesn't jive with Scripture is emotionally exhausting and there are some in the class that had read the book and are strangely attached to it resulting in having to defend it. I've learned my lesson...it is simply teaching the Bible from now on."
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"Thank you for your wonderful web site. I was planning to attend a small group Bible study that was going to use Rick Warren's book, "The Purpose Driven Life" but God led me to look at your web site, which a friend introduced me to about two years ago, and I came across the reviews of this book. I'd like to think that I would be astute enough to find the flaws in this book myself, but I'm very, very happy that I looked at your web site. I appreciate knowing that I saved myself a lot of precious time which I can better use to study God's word instead. I have not read the book and do not plan to now. Thank you."
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"Thank you for your site it was great to get the information on the "Purpose Driven Life/Church." We in New Zealand are drowning in a sea of this user friendly nonsense where the church is turning into an entertainment centre and preaching of The Word is seen as old fashioned and we have been told to forget the past because God is doing a new thing!!!!"
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Recently, Rick Warren disclosed on Larry King Live (March 22, 2005) what his ultimate "Purpose" (plan) was for the whole Purpose Driven movement. He has this all planned out: first the Purpose Driven Church, then the Purpose Driven Life, then the Purpose Driven Communities, and then:
"You know, half the world lives on less than $2 a day and half the world cannot read. And so we came up with the plan called the PEACE plan, p-e-a-c-e. Plant churches, equip the leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation.
And we're right now doing a test pilot of the PEACE plan in 67 countries. We're about a year and a half into it. It's a two-year test plan. We plan to go public with it -- well, now, it's going public on LARRY KING -- but we plan to go public with it in 2006, which is to mobilize hundreds of thousands of small groups that have done the 40 days of purpose in churches and communities and civic groups and corporations -- churches that have done 40 days of purpose in groups to do these five things around the world. And that's really why I was in Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya, to test that."--Rick Warren (for entire transcript, go to: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0503/22/lkl.01.html )
Brandon,
I was hoping you would reply to some of my questions:
If you get the time to do so that would be most helpful.
Caleb
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