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

 

16 May, 2008   comments: (0) Purpose Drivenism   Purpose-Pastors Trained to Manipulate Dissenters One of the books sold on Rick Warren's website teaches pastors how to deal with Purpose Driven dissenters. The author characterizes those who resist the transition to the Purpose Driven franchise as "leaders from hell" who are misguided, and have evil motives or are just unwilling to change because of their being caught in traditions. The message is clear - they are incompatible with the new church scheme, and therefore they must go. But some of the victims of the Purpose Driven scheme are speaking out, and it's clear that many of them simply don't fit the trouble-maker profile described by such a book. What follows is another excerpt from Bob DeWaay's new book: Redefining Christianity Rick Warren wrote the forward to Dan Southerland's book entitled "Transitioning: Leading Your Church Through Change". The book is designed to show pastors how to transition their traditional church into a Purpose Driven one. Rick Warren sells the book on the Purpose Driven website. Some of the chapter headings reveal how heavily it depends on the concept of vision: "Preparing for Vision; Defining Vision; Planting the Vision; Sharing the Vision; Implementing the Vision, etc". The future Purpose Driven Church is what the vision is all about. The vision includes the process of removing people who oppose becoming Purpose Driven. This book is very revealing. "What Happened to My Church?" Reading Southerland's book will help people whose churches have changed from gospel preaching and Bible teaching churches to seeker churches understand what happened to them. Southerland characterizes those who resist this transition as "leaders from hell" who are of the ilk of Sanballat who resisted Nehemiah on a mission from God (ie: to convert the church to being a Purpose Driven seeker church) and that all who resist are misguided, have evil motives, or are just unwilling to change because of their being caught in traditions. There is however, another side to the story. I have heard from many of these "evil Sanballat types", and they are heart-broken over what has happened to their churches. They love the gospel and hunger for solid Bible teaching. Besides being starved spiritually, they are now chastised as being evildoers. This email from Canada is an example: "We were labeled critical and divisive and negative in our Southern Baptist church for pointing out the watered-down gospel and twisting of Scripture in the book Purpose Driven Life. Despite the concerns we raised, our church pressed ahead with their 40 day journey earlier this year and we found it too difficult to attend church over that period, where all the ministries of the church were geared toward that study over that time. We have found the lack of discernment very alarming. We are shocked at the weak teaching of Scripture we are seeing, the lack of discernment, the ignorance of truth versus error, and the willingness to jump unquestioningly on every popular "Christian" bandwagon that comes along. We are very discouraged as we know of no solid, Bible-honoring, discerning church in our area and wonder what those of us who see these problems are to do." Here is another lament from people whose church made the transition: "We attend a large Baptist, though in reality nondenominational church. It seems our church and many, many, others have embraced what I've come to call 'Warrenism'. What's disturbed us is the secularization of our church. It's become more and more worldly, while growing large in number (about 6,000 members). We have felt alone in our uneasiness with the 'Warrenistic' culture of our church as it's grown stronger there, but we felt confused about it after some Sunday sermons in support of it. What we see now at our church is not enough evangelism without, and God's House is very worldly within. This is what breaks our hearts. We hear sermons with only vague references to Scripture and have a secularized worship service many times. My wife asks me 'Shouldn't we be getting nourishment to prepare us for our battles as Christians?'" My question is this: "Are the resisters really leaders from hell or are they solid Christians who know the difference between the gospel as preached by Christ and His apostles - and the Purpose Driven message that is tailored to appeal to the unregenerate and carnal minded?" What most of these resistant people do not know is that their pastors have been trained in how to deal with them. Their pastors have been taught that "traditionalists" who do not get on board with the new vision will have to go, if they can not be placated or converted to the new paradigm. The reason for this is that the Purpose Driven franchise can not succeed without conformity to it's protocol. That's why Rick Warren makes all of the members of his church sign a covenant. In his case, his church was never anything but Purpose Driven. The people who have come there mostly do not know the difference between a gospel church and a Purpose Driven church. They are happy to sign unity pledges because they are already convinced that Rick Warren and his processes are from God. But Warren's campaign to covert existing churches to become Purpose Driven creates a far different situation. It displaces thousands of people who know what real Gospel preaching and Bible teaching are. They know that the synthetic alternative that pleases the unregenerate masses is not the same message. They, who were previously the stalwarts of the congregation are now the "problem people" who have to be dealt with. This transition is similar to what happens when one franchise company buys another. The employees of the purchased company have been trained in the vision and protocol of that company. The new one has an entirely different corporate agenda. What often happens is that long-time, loyal employees of the old company are fired because it is easier to bring in a new team that is sold on the new company's ways. This is painful enough in corporate America, but when it happens to a long-standing church that existed to preach the gospel, teach the Bible, and care for the flock, people who are mature, loving Christians find themselves removed from fellowship. They who love their Lord and His Word have, through no choice of their own, become characterized as wicked resisters who are standing in the way of what God wants to do. More Resources Relating to Purpose Driven'ism: Listen to an audio recording with similar testimonies Read another testimony from a Purpose Driven refugee Mailbag: The symptoms of a Purpose Driven takeover Another excerpt from Bob DeWaay's book, exposing psychology Listen to WVCY's archived radio programs on this subject Posted by: Jim B.   Link: http://www.oldtruth.com/blog.cfm/id.2.pid.250   Be the first to post a comment about this article        Home  |   About  |  Videos   |  Calvinism