Thus says the Lord: "Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.
But they said, 'We will not walk in it.'" --Jeremiah 6:16

 

11 April, 2007   comments: (0) Purpose Drivenism   Critique: The Evangelism Message of Rick Warren We were pleased to have a member for two decades of Saddleback church visiting with us this week, in the comments of another post on Old Truth. I always appreciate these opportunities because it gives us a chance to interact with an expert witness of sorts. As he repeatedly challenged us to watch Rick Warren's evangelism video as a demonstration that the old truth was still being preached at Saddleback, I decided to take him up on that challenge. Here is my analysis of that 13 minute evangelism presentation. I would like to thank John Brown (the member of Saddleback) for participating here. He has personally spoken with Rick Warren, and seems to be very knowledgeable of what goes on in our nation's 2nd largest church. This topic is of particular interest to many of us, because Rick Warren's Purpose Driven methodologies are being essentially franchised across the country and in fact the whole world now. As I've mentioned many times before, I have come out of such a church myself. The evangelism presentation that we've been invited to watch is at PurposeDriven.com and you can watch it yourself using the box entitled "What does it mean to follow Christ?" right on the main page. Once again, John Brown lets us know that he thinks "the methods" have changed, but not the message. So is it true that this evangelism message is the same old truth as historic Christianity? Here's my analysis, I've included some links to help explain some topics further: The video starts off with an appeal to God's love for you. Though the Apostles never used God loves you as an evangelistic appeal, this is fairly common in modern Christianity. Rick Warren conveys a half-truth (at best) by only mentioning God's love while neglecting to mention the reality of God's hatred of sinners (note that I purposely did not just say "hatred of sin"). John MacArthur explains: From The God Who Loves, by MacArthur: "...Hell is after all, the final expression of God's hatred. God does hate the reprobate sinner in a very real and terrifying sense. I would never say such a thing were it not clearly taught in Scripture. Psalm 5:5-6 says, "The boastful shall not stand before Thine eyes; Thou dost HATE all who do iniquity. Thou dost destroy those who speak falsehood; The Lord abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit." Psalm 11:5 says, "The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked, and the one who loves violence His soul HATES." The psalmist himself reflects the divine attitude when he writes, "Do I not HATE those who hate Thee, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against Thee? I hate them with the utmost HATRED; they have become my enemies" (Ps. 139:21-22). As we have noted previously, this is not a malevolent hatred; it is a holy abhorrence for that which is vile, loathsome, and evil. But it is TRUE HATRED nonetheless." The half-truths continue as Warren speaks about heaven numerous times all throughout his 13 minute evangelism message, but never mentions hell even one time. He uses selective citing by quoting bible verses that call upon the sinner to believe and receive, but never quotes any bible verses that talk about repentance. In fact the whole concept of repentance is missing. He does talk about the need to accept the fact that you sin, and about how Jesus' righteousness is needed for us to make it into heaven, but the closest Rick Warren comes to explaining repentance is the mentioning of "Jesus, I'm sorry for my sins" in his closing prayer. Those familiar with the Purpose Driven Life book may know that Warren's failure to speak about repentance is one of the key criticisms of that book as well. The topic of sin is also lacking in this evangelism presentation. Sin is talked about as a "prideful attitude" and as being the source of all of your trouble here on earth, but the eternal dangers of sin are never mentioned; there is nothing mentioned that connects sin to judgment, wrath, or eternal punishment. The impression that I had from Rick Warren's talk was the man-centered notion that if I do something about sin - my problems on earth will improve. He says that sin causes us to fear God, and thus "fear of God" is painted as being a problem; but there is a very real sense in which even true believers should have an awesome fear of the Lord. As a further departure from the old truth, Rick Warren neglects to preach the law, and so Charles Spurgeon reminds us "You have taken away the schoolmaster that is to bring men to Christ. . . They will never accept grace till they tremble before a just and holy Law". And DL Moody: "I pity the man who preaches only one side of the truth - always the gospel, and never the Law". George Whitefield reminds us of the consequences of neglecting the law: "That is the reason we have so many 'mushroom' converts", and I would dare say this is the reason Saddleback likely has thousands of falsely-confident Purpose Driven converts. After selectively citing believe and receive verses, Rick Warren then assures the sinner to accept that they are Christians even if they don't feel saved. Nothing is mentioned about counting the costs, or testing yourself to see if you are in the faith. You are simply told not to doubt. Lastly, the 13 minute presentation finds it's basis in Decisional Regeneration (see the GodTube explanation clip). Rick Warren relates your relationship with Christ to your decision to be married. He talks about "the key to getting a relationship with God" and inviting Christ to be your Lord, while never mentioning God's sovereign role in Salvation. Warren takes John 1:12, which is an indicative verse about adoption, and uses it as an imperative verse about regeneration instead, giving you the impression that if you believe you will be reborn. This is opposite of scripture however, which teaches that belief is the fruit (not the cause) of the new birth. Near the end of this salvation message, Rick Warren throws in an oddly placed "that's what the purpose driven life is all about". I'll spare you my detailed commentary on that, allowing you to arrive at your own conclusions. So there you have it. Well intentioned - yes, but is it the old truth? I don't think you could find any post-Reformation evidence of preachers and evangelists giving a message like this one, prior to the year 1840 or so. In my opinion, this is a weak, watered-down, modern message containing half-truths and unbiblical concepts. Is it possible for certain persons who hear it to be saved through the means of it? Probably, would be my opinion. But I also have no doubt that this message is detrimental to multitudes of others (read why). Have I been unfair in demanding that Rick Warren should squeeze so much into a short 13 minute presentation? You'll notice that my specific reasons for doing so in many cases, relates to the fact that he brings up only one side of a coin. My response is then to have him present the other side as well, since he brought out the coin in the first place. This is necessary to avoid half-truths which of course equate to untruths. Now there's always a chance that I missed something or got something wrong, so as always you are welcome to respond. If you do however, and you mention something in his video clip, please also specify where (how many minutes and seconds) into the clip you are referencing. Also, if you are someone who has seen Rick Warren's evangelism video and you wish to disagree with what's been said here, I'm asking that you would first watch this 10 minute video clip which explains one of our chief complaints with Rick Warren's evangelism. That should help to put us more on the same page as we talk about things like sin. Posted by: Jim B.   Link: http://www.oldtruth.com/blog.cfm/.id.2.pid.650   Be the first to post a comment about this article        Home  |   About  |  Videos   |  Calvinism