The Bible makes it clear that God’s people face three enemies: the world, the flesh, and the Devil. This means that Rick Warren is NOT our enemy. For those of you who proudly bash Rick Warren, you should be ashamed of yourselves. I used to take pride in my critique of Rick Warren. Both of his books, The Purpose Driven Church and The Purpose Driven Life have some glaring weaknesses. But they have some strengths too: they are not wholly devoid of truth. Let me be very clear: It is NOT Reformed (much less Christian) to glean truth, beauty, and goodness only from Christians who are Reformed. In fact, because of the Reformers (Luther, Calvin, Knox, etc) firm belief that “all truth is God’s truth” we should glory in truth wherever it is found–yes even when it is found in books written by Rick Warren!

But it’s not Rick Warren’s books or Rick Warren’s church that impress me. It’s Rick Warren. I’ve met him and he is a genuinely humble guy (it’s easy to critique a person that you’ve never spent time with). In an Evangelical world where financial and moral integrity are becoming increasingly hard to find amongst its leaders, Rick Warren is above reproach. He doesn’t take himself too seriously (we could all learn from him on this point) and he’s actually getting his hands dirty serving the common good of humanity. I’m not bad at theologizing about cultural transformation. But I have a long way to go to catch Rick when it comes to actually transforming this present world into the world to come. Rick Warren is doing more to bring God’s Kingdom “on earth as it is in heaven” than most of us. He may not be a Calvinist theologically, but he certainly puts many of us Calvinists to shame when it comes to being a Calvinist practically: caring for widows and orphans, helping the poor and sick, and humbly serving those in need. He’s doing more good than harm for the Kingdom and if you love the King, that should make you happy. I say all of this because I ran across a helpful article that he recently wrote. It’s entitled Six Worldviews You’re Competing Against.

I hope that you will be more inclined to pray for Rick than you are to critique him. Critiquing him (or anybody else, for that matter) is beneficial where and when he misses the mark (either personally or theologically). But if you find more joy and satisfaction in critiquing him where he is wrong than you do in praising God where he is right, than you need to repent. I know, because I had to. Enjoy this helpful article.

Watcher’s Lamp asks if Saddleback Church could exercise their influence over “America’s pastor” to find a new publishing house for his bestselling books, now that Apprising Ministries revealed the publishing holdings of Rupert Murdoch produce the Satanic Bible and The Purpose Driven Life.

“If Saddleback will not hold Rick Warren accountable for his public claims and relationships, would Saddleback initiate a boycott against the publishing houses of Rupert Murdoch for the sake of the Gospel? Would the 30,000 + plus pastors who are officially Purpose Driven join Saddleback Church in this boycott? Would the Southern Baptist Convention issue a statement to support such a boycott?”

“Would Saddleback Church, The Purpose Driven Church Network and the Southern Baptist Convention be guilty of hypocrisy if none of these groups publically stands against the publishers of the Satanic Bible?”

“If Rick Warren claims it’s a time for deeds, not creeds, wouldn’t this deed be worth doing?”

As if the Satanic Bible wasn’t enough, here are some other family friendly titles from Murdoch’s Haper Collins Publishing House.

• Sex Tips from a Dominatrix
• Sex Between Men
• Sex Design
• How to Make Money Like a Porn Star
• How to Make Love Like a Porn Star
• The Lesbian Couples Guide
• The Lesbian Love Companion
• How to Have a XXX Sex Life
• Skin City
• The Joy of Gay Sex
• Make Your Own Adult Video

So, here is the question you must ask yourself: Do I want to be a financier of pornography, homosexuality, satanic teaching, and all maner of filth?

Here are the “helpful links” from Purpose Driven Catholics at Purpose Driven.com which clearly show Rick Warren is actively promoting apostate Roman Catholicism. For example there’s the Catholic Currier.com

The Catholic Courier, weekly newspaper of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester, New York, was founded by lay Catholics in 1889 as The Catholic Journal… Bishop Matthew H. Clark, leader of the Diocese of Rochester, is both publisher of the Catholic Courier and president of the RCPA. (Online source)

At Purpose Driven Catholics you’ll also find the link to The Georgia Bulletin, the online “Newspaper of the [Roman] Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta.” And finally there’s Saint Theresa of Avila Parish – The Mother Roman Catholic Church of Southeast Washington named after the so-called “Christian” mystic and Carmelite nun Teresa of Avila. We’re told there that Father Ray East is the “grandson of Baptist missionaries to South Africa,” and he “has served in six Washington parishes before being named director of the Office of Black Catholics and Vicar for Evangelization” (Online source)

That’s right, above we see that America’s Mega-Pastor Rick Warren, a Southern Baptist “evangelical,” is providing as a helpful link the church for the Vicar for Evangelization in the Office of Black [Roman] Catholics. Can someone please explain to me how the Southern Baptist denomination, allegedly one of the largest “Protestant” denominations in the world, says absolutely nothing while one its most prominent pastors is actively promoting apostate Roman Catholicism and even helping them to build bigger churches.

Do we seriously think that God is going to bless the SBC while no one says anything while this kind of purpose driven lunacy in the Lord’s Name is going on?

Google Video Link Here

HT: Ben Davis, Symphony of Scripture

At Symphony of Scripture, Ben Davis has taken the time to provide some great notes to go along with this video. Enjoy.

HT: Pastor Ken Silva

Click Here to read Warren’s beliefnet.com interview.

Click Here to Hear this List in Warren’s Own Voice.