(Friday Church News Notes, December 8, 2006, www.wayoflife.org)
Rick Warren of Purpose Drive Church fame invited pro-abortion, pro-homosexual politician Barack Obama to speak in his church on December 1, 2006. The occasion was the second annual Global Summit on AIDS conference at Warren’s Saddleback Church in southern California. Jim Brown, a reporter with the American Family Radio who attended the summit, said Obama was given a standing ovation when introduced, and when Obama stated that just promoting abstinence was not enough, that condoms needed to be handed out, Rick and Kay Warren nodded and joined in the applause. Bill Gates and U2 frontman Bono also sent messages to the conference by video. Rick Warren replied to his critics by saying, “Jesus loved and accepted others without approving of everything they did. That’s our position too, but it upsets a lot of people, so we get attacked from both sides.”
(Friday Church News Notes, September 2, 2005)
In an e-mail exchange with the Baptist Press, August 22-23, Rick Warren of Purpose Driven Church fame, affirmed his commitment to the Southern Baptist Convention. The exchange was provoked by a statement Warren made in a question-answer session with reporters in May in which he indicated that his church is no longer Southern Baptist. In his recent statement to the Baptist Press, though, Warren said: “I’m Southern Baptist, our church is Southern Baptist, and we cooperate in SBC missions support at every level both in the United States and with our IMB [International Mission Board] missionaries around the world” (“Rick Warren dispels rumors,” Baptist Press, Aug. 25, 2006).
(David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service)
Rick Warren talks a lot about “the gospel.” At the Exponential 2013 conference, which was hosted by Warren’s Saddleback Church, the theme was preaching the gospel and making disciples.
But what gospel does Warren preach? In chapter 7 of his ultra-popular book The Purpose Driven Life, he explains as follows how to become a Christian:
“If you are not sure you have done this, all you need to do is receive and believe. … First, believe. Believe God loves you and made you for his purposes. Believe you’re not an accident. Believe you were made to last forever. Believe God has chosen you to have a relationship with Jesus, who died on the cross for you. Believe that no matter what you’ve done, God wants to forgive you. Second, receive. Receive his forgiveness for your sins. Receive his Spirit, who will give you the power to fulfill your life purpose. … Wherever you are reading this, I invite you to bow your head and quietly whisper the prayer that will change your eternity. ‘Jesus, I believe in you and I receive you.’ Go ahead. If you sincerely meant that prayer, congratulations! Welcome to the family of God!” (The Purpose Driven Life, pp. 58, 59).
This is one of the most superficial “gospels” I have ever seen. There is nothing here that would offend or convict the Pope, a Mormon, or even many New Agers. It is not the gospel that was preached in the book of Acts or Romans.
Warren invites the reader to “believe on Jesus.” What Jesus? People today believe in all sorts of false christs, but Warren does not warn them of this nor does he take the time to identify the true Jesus of the Bible in any clear fashion and to distinguish Him from false ones, such as the false christ of The Shack or the Roman Catholic wafer Jesus or the New Age yoga Jesus. According to Rick Warren’s gospel, all you need is to “believe on Jesus” and, presto, you are ready to heaven.
[Also, repentance and Hell are not mentioned in Warren’s gospel…]
(December 13, 2005 , David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service)
Everything about Saddleback is shallow. Truth has been boiled down to such a low common denominator that not much is left. For example, the Saddleback Statement of Faith has six simple points. Note the following statement on salvation, which we are quoting in full:
“Salvation is a gift from God to mankind. We can never make up for our sin by self-improvement or good works. Only by trusting in Jesus Christ as God’s offer of forgiveness can we be saved from sin’s penalty. Eternal life begins the moment we receive Jesus Christ into our life by faith.”
Note that the gospel is not actually given in this statement. There is nothing about Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, nothing about His shed blood and atonement. Sinners are exhorted to trust Christ but that is not explained in any sense whatsoever.
(December 13, 2005 , David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service)
Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, pastored by Rick Warren, is one of the most influential churches in the world. Warren says, “This is a world class church making a world class impact.” He is right about the impact, but sadly, that impact is not encouraging strict faithfulness to God’s Word.
I visited two of the three morning services at Saddleback on August 24, 2003, the one at 8 a.m. and the one at 9:45 a.m.
The church complex is huge. The main auditorium seats many thousands, and there are dozens of other buildings for various ministries. The overall mood of the services is casual in the extreme. The people dress much as they would for a secular sporting event. Women are dressed in shorts, short skirts, tight pants, and other types of immodest attire. The church bulletin for that Sunday was patterned after the cover to the TV Guide.
The music was pure rock and roll. There were five singers, two electric guitars, a drum kit, an electric keyboard, two saxophones, a piano, trumpet, trombone, and flute. Three special numbers were performed with a nightclub effect, complete with swirling lights in the background and attractive female singers swaying and dancing to the music. It appeared to me that not many of the people were actually participating in the worship service. Most were merely watching the show up front.
Saddleback Church features nine different “worship venues.” There is a worship style to suit every worldly taste. The Overdrive venue is “for those who like guitar-driven rock band worship in a concert-like setting that you can FEEL.” The Ohana venue comes “complete with hula and island-style music,” and on the first Saturday of every month you can take hula lessons during the potluck following the service. The Country venue features line dancing. I didn’t make this up, folks. It is right from Saddleback’s web site.
“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).
An outline of the sermon was handed out with the bulletin, and six or seven Bible versions were quoted, most of them loose paraphrases or dynamic equivalencies such as the Living Bible, the New Living Translation, The Message, the Today’s English Version, and the Contemporary English Version.
I observed on the way into the auditorium that only a few of the people carried Bibles, and the reason became clear when I saw the multiplicity of versions that were used in the preaching. It would be impossible to follow along in one’s Bible. The result is that the people do not bring their own Bibles and do not therefore carefully test the preaching. How could they, when any biblical statement they would attempt to examine has dozens of variations?
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables” (2 Timothy 4:3-4).
(“A Review of Rick Warren’s “The Purpose Driven Life”; Updated and enlarged March 10, 2008 — David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service)
The book “The Purpose Drive Life” by Rick Warren of Saddleback Church in southern California has sold more than 18 million copies. Saddleback is associated with the Southern Baptist Convention, but Warren’s “Purpose Driven” philosophy has spread to most denominations.
Called by Christianity Today “America’s most influential pastor,” Warren’s influence is vast. It reaches into every sphere of Christianity in our day, from Catholicism to Mormonism to liberal Protestantism to evangelicalism to fundamentalist Bible and Baptist churches.
Many independent Baptist churches are being influenced by Warren’s teaching. For example, Warren conducted a Purpose Driven Super-Conference in October 2003 at Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia (Falwell affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention and the Baptist Bible Fellowship). Simultaneously, Warren’s 40 Days of Purpose campaign was shown by telecast in more than 4,000 churches, including independence Baptist.
Bruce Ryskamp, president of Zondervan, said, “The Purpose Driven Life is more than a bestseller; it’s become a movement.” Over 12,000 churches from all 50 states in America and 19 countries have participated in Warren’s 40 Days of Purpose, which is drawn from the book. Over 60,000 pastors subscribe to Rick Warren’s Ministry Toolbox. He has provided materials and teaching to Christians in more than 117 countries on all seven continents.
Richard Bennett observes, “The movement is becoming a global empire.”
Rick Warren has been called “America’s pastor,” and it is for good reason. He is so shallow in his teaching, so positive in his approach, so slighting of repentance, so neglecting of unpopular doctrines such as hell and judgment and repentance, so tolerant of heresies, so enthusiastic of rock music, so soft-spoken on that nasty subject of worldliness, that apostate America can’t help but love him.
All of these characteristics are reflected in his best-selling book.
Though Warren professes that his teaching does not exalt man but rather exalts God and he claims that he does not teach a self-help program, in reality he teaches nothing less than a Robert Schuller-style Self-Esteem theology.
Notice the following statements:
“The moment you were born into the world, God was there as an unseen witness, smiling at your birth. … It proves your worth. If you are that important to God, and he considers you valuable enough to keep you for eternity, what great significance could you have? … Anything you do that brings pleasure to God is an act of worship … You may be gifted at mechanics or mathematics or music or a thousand other skills. All these abilities can bring a smile to God’s face. … You only bring him enjoyment by being you. Anytime you reject any part of yourself, you are rejecting God’s wisdom and sovereignty in creating you. …” (pp. 61, 64, 74, 75).
Here worship is turned on its head by making it as much about me as about God. I am so loveable and so important and so desirable to God that whatever I do brings God pleasure and therefore is worship. Wonderful me! The self-esteem theology is more about celebrating self than dying to self, even when it talks of dying to self! Warren says that if I reject any part of myself I am denying God’s sovereignty. What about sin and what it has done to “myself”?
Consider another statement from Warren’s popular book: “If you want to know how much you matter to God, look at Christ with his arms outstretched on the cross, saying, ‘I love you this much! I’d rather die than live without you’” (p. 79). Thus, the cross is sanctified by the self-esteem theology so that it is about me and how the Lord couldn’t live without me. Wonderful me!
Warren quotes from Olympic runner Eric Liddell. “To give up running would be to hold him in contempt.”
Thus, to deny what I am gifted at and what I like to do is to deny God. Isn’t it clever how that Warren has identified self will with God’s will so that they have become one and the same?
Note the following quotes from chapters 30 and 31 of The Purpose Driven Life which deal with finding my place in God’s will:
“Listening to your heart. The Bible uses the term heart to describe the bundle of desires, hopes, interests, ambitions, dreams, and affections you have. Your heart represents the source of all your motivations–what you love to do and what you are about most. … Don’t ignore your interests. Consider how they might be used for God’s glory. There is a reason that you love to do these things. … How do you know when you are serving God from your heart? The first telltale sign is enthusiasm. When you are doing what you love to do, no one has to motivate you or challenge you or check up on you. … The second characteristic of serving God from your heart is effectiveness. Whenever you do what God wired you to love to do, you get good at it. … Figure out what you love to do–what God gave you a heart to do–and then do it for his glory. … What I’m able to do, God wants me to do” (pp. 237, 238, 239, 243).
Note that Warren does not warn his readers that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9). What a gross, inexcusable omission! A great many of the millions of readers of this book are doubtless complete unbelievers or nominal Christians or novices or carnal, and to teach them that what they love to do is God’s will is frightful heresy. Many are professional sports fanatics, for example. Others are rock & roll fanatics. Others are fanatics about modern fashion trends. Are they fanatic about such things because that is the way that God made them? No, they are fanatic about such things because they are conformed to the world and walk in the way of sinners (Psalm 1:1; Romans 12:2). [Warren promotes ‘following your heart’ instead of ‘following the Bible’.]
In The Purpose Driven Life, Warren uses 15 different Bible versions, including two Roman Catholic ones (The New American Bible and the New Jerusalem Bible). His favorites are the “dynamic equivalency” versions such as the Living Bible, the New Living Bible, Today’s English Version, the Contemporary English Version, and The Message. The latter seems to be his most favorite. As a result, it is often impossible to know exactly what Scripture he is quoting because it is so strangely paraphrased and wildly inaccurate.
On page 70, Warren quotes Hebrews 11:7 from The Message. “By faith, Noah built a ship in the middle of dry land. He was warned about something he couldn’t see, and acted on what he was told … As a result, Noah became intimate with God.”
We can see that The Message adds to and takes away from the Word of God in an amazing manner. It adds the bit about Noah building a ship in the middle of dry land. It omits the fact that Noah moved with fear. It changes “became heir of the righteousness which is by faith” to “became intimate with God.”
On page 20 of The Purpose Driven Life, Warren quotes 1 Corinthians 2:7 from The Message:
“God’s wisdom … goes deep into the interior of his purposes … It’s not the latest message, but more like the oldest–what God determined as the way to bring out his best in us.”
In the King James Bible, this says: “But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory.”
It is obvious that The Message is not a translation in any sense of the word; it is a presumption. It is not God’s thoughts but man’s. It is almost childish, not because it is simple but because it is ridiculous.
Warren claims to have quoted more than 1,000 Scriptures in The Purpose Driven Life, but most of the quotations are similar to the previous examples [(the most coming from ‘The Message’)] and have no right to be called Scripture.
In chapter 8 of The Purpose Driven Life, Warren becomes a prophet, saying:
“God loves all kinds of music because he invented it all–fast and slow, loud and soft, old and new. You probably don’t like it all, but God does! … Christians often disagree over the style of music used in worship, passionately defending their preferred style as the most biblical or God-honoring. But there is no biblical style! … 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. There are no spiritual tunes” (pp. 65, 66).
The Purpose Driven Life contains extensive documentation of Rick Warren’s dangerous and unscriptural “judge not” ecumenical philosophy. On page 164, Warren says:
“God warns us over and over not to criticize, compare, or judge each other. … Whenever I judge another believer, four things instantly happen: I lose fellowship with God, I expose my own pride, I set myself to be judged by God, and I harm the fellowship of the church.”
In typical New Evangelical fashion Warren makes no distinction between judging hypocritically (which is forbidden in Matthew 7) or judging on the basis of personal preference in matters not taught in Scripture (which is forbidden in Romans 14) and judging on the basis of the Bible (which is required by God).
The child of God has an obligation to judge everything by God’s Word. The believers at Corinth were rebuked because they were careless in this regard and were tolerant of false teachers (2 Corinthians 11:1-4). The Bereans, on the other hand, were commended because they carefully tested everything by Scripture (Acts 17:11). The Bible says “… he that is spiritual judgeth all things” (1 Cor. 2:15) and Jesus taught that we should “judge righteous judgment” (John 7:24).
On page 34 of The Purpose Driven Life, Warren says:
“God won’t ask about your religious background or doctrinal views. The only thing that will matter is, did you accept what Jesus did for you and did you learn to love and trust him?”
If this is true, why does the Bible say so very much about doctrine and why did the apostles call for doctrinal purity on every hand? Paul instructed Timothy to allow “no other doctrine” (1 Timothy 1:3). If God is unconcerned about doctrine, why did the apostles spend so much time warning about false doctrines and doctrines of devils? [Warren doesn’t believe that ‘doctrine’ is important.]
Beware of “The Purpose Driven Life.” It is not faithful to Scripture, and if followed it will lead you away from God’s will.
(“The Church Growth Movement: An Analysis of Rick Warren’s “Purpose Driven” Church Growth Strategy” – by Dennis Costella, from Foundation 
Magazine, March-April 1998)
The possibility of dynamic growth for struggling churches, especially old-fashioned, Bible-believing, Bible-preaching fundamental churches, is tremendously appealing. However, it is imperative to ask this question: “What actually must be done in order to accomplish dynamic church growth?” We must warn about Rick Warren’s unbiblical answer to that question.
So what are some of the changes that must take place for a local assembly to adopt the growth strategy of the Saddleback model? From our understanding of the plan which was clearly spelled out at the seminar [(hosted by Warren and his church which the author attended)], the following must occur in order to transform a traditionally-styled church of any size into one that can boast dramatic growth:
- A contemporary-styled “Seeker Service” aimed at drawing in the unsaved and the unchurched from the community must replace the traditional Sunday worship service. To do this successfully, the church service must be non-threatening, familiar and comfortable to the “seeker” (the unsaved visitor).
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The dress must be casual. The typical “Saddleback Sam” (a researched composite of the unchurched yuppie commonly found in Saddleback Church’s surrounding community) dresses up for work all week, and he wants to “dress down” on the weekends. (As we shall see throughout this article, Saddleback Sam’s likes and dislikes are what determine the style of the church service.) Attendees and church staff alike shun any ties, suits and dresses. Warren, dressed in a casual shirt, khakis and loafers told his seminar audience, “Get comfortable. This is as dressed up as I get in this church. My idea of winter is I put on socks, and obviously I don’t think it’s winter yet.”
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The message must be only positive. We consider this to be the most flagrant flaw. Yes, the saved and unsaved alike can feel better about themselves after a message that often mixes psychology and an uplifting Scripture text. Such topics as dealing with guilt, self-esteem, interpersonal relationships, mood enhancement or motivation for success will encourage the worldly, weary individual. But what is God’s command to the faithful undershepherd of the flock? Far, far different.
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The ministries of the church must be geared to meeting the needs and special interests of the thousands who attend. Support groups for depression, eating disorders, infertility, family and friends of homosexuals, post abortion, and separated men and women were abundant. Many ministries were intended to bring together ones with similar business or professional interests, common recreational interests and so on. We could not find one single ministry listed in Saddleback Community Church’s bulletin that involved the taking the Gospel message out to the lost in the community. In fact, Warren scoffed at the idea of passing out tracts or going door-to-door since “Saddleback Sam” is offended by such old-fashion, out-moded forms of evangelism.
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Doctrinal instruction is not given to the church as a whole on the Lord’s Day. Despite the fact that the early church clearly sets forth the example that doctrine is to be taught on Sunday to all the church body, at Saddleback, doctrine is only taught to sub-groups of the congregation apart from the regular church services. Warren emphasized Saddleback’s strategy of moving new members “around the bases” by having interested Christians take special classes to prepare them for service. Although Bible study groups also meet together, our question is this: Why is not the pulpit used to proclaim the “whole counsel of God” to the whole congregation assembled before it on the Lord’s Day (Acts 20:20-31)? Why make serious, systematic Bible instruction an option, heard only by the relatively few in the crowd who desire to “round the next base”? The whole counsel of God is to be proclaimed, to all seated before the pulpit, all the time!
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The music must be contemporary. Not only must the lyrics of the music be more recent, but the style of music should be that which the unsaved hears on a daily basis. The entertainment composite of the Saddleback sound system, band, singers and presentation would rival that of any secular rock concert. Warren stated that one of the first things a church should do is “replace the organ with a band.” But he went on to say that if a band was not feasible, then at least a church could purchase a keyboard that will incorporate midi disks in order to give the sound of a band. Furthermore, the purpose of the church choir should be “backing up the soloist. That’s the 90’s way to use a choir rather than just having them sing.”
Warren made it clear that loud, raucous music with a driving beat is the kind of music to which Saddleback residents listened, inside and outside of the church:
“Now, at Saddleback Church, we are unapologetically contemporary… I passed out a three-by-five card to everybody in the church, and I said, “You write down the call letters of the radio station you listen to.” I wasn’t even asking unbelievers. I was asking the people in the church, “What kind of music do you listen to?” When I got it back, I didn’t have one person who said, “I listen to organ music.” Not one. I didn’t have a single person who said, “I listen to huge choirs on the radio.” Not one. In fact, it was 96-97% adult contemporary, middle-of-the-road pop. It wasn’t heavy metal rock, but it was something with a beat like you hear most commercials have today on television. So, we made a strategic decision that we are unapologetically a contemporary music church. And right after we made that decision and stopped trying to please everybody, Saddleback exploded with growth. Now, I’ll be honest with you, we are loud. We are really, really loud on a weekend service…. I say, “We’re not gonna turn it down.” Now the reason why is baby boomers want to feel the music, not just hear it. Now, I can give you two dozen really good churches within driving distance that are my friends, we’re in small groups together, that don’t have it as loud as us. Go there. Why should every church have the same music? … People can find that God loves variety!”
Rick Warren began the seminar by revealing the vast influence his message has had throughout the world. He told the pastors and church leaders who were attending the seminar, “You’re joining a group today of over 45,000 pastors and church leaders that have gone through this conference in the last few years from about 42 different countries, from about 63 different denominations. We have a number of different countries that flew in today just for this one day conference, from Europe, from Asia, from South America.” To accent the ecumenical mood of the seminar, Warren later suggested, “It really doesn’t matter your denomination, folks. We’re all on the same team if you love Jesus.”