Archive for the ‘Purpose Driven Movement’ Category

by Warren Smith

Leonard Sweet is definitely one of the point men for today’s emerging/postmodern/Purpose Driven Church. As Rick Warren has aligned himself with Sweet, it is important to remember that Sweet has described former and present New Age figures as his “heroes” and “role models.” He has openly acknowledged that his quantum “new cell theory” understanding of “new light leadership” was formulated with the help of veteran New Age leader David Spangler. Additionally, Sweet describes mystical New Age priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin as “Twentieth-century Christianity’s major voice.”1 And while Sweet’s almost “in your face” New Age sympathies are there for all to see, Rick Warren, and other Christian figures continue to hold him in high esteem. But it is just business as usual as Warren’s apologist tells us that “Doctrinally/theologically, Leonard Sweet is about as Christian as anyone can get.”2

In his 2009 book So Beautiful, Leonard Sweet underscores his quantum “relational worldview”3 by favorably quoting from William Young’s The Shack regarding relationship.4 He also tells readers to look to Margaret Wheatley’s Leadership and the New Science to further understand his quantum view on the “spiritual and social significance of relationship.”5 And he still continues to refer readers back to his 1991 book, Quantum Spirituality.6

While appearing to be somewhat of a 21st century renaissance man who leaves everyone in the wake of his postmodern intellect, Leonard Sweet’s “scientific” postmodern/quantum/New Age view on things raises some critical questions—particularly in regard to his association with Rick Warren. If Warren, Sweet, and other Christian leaders continue to move the church towards the New Spirituality, how will it ultimately play out? Will we see Warren, Schuller, Sweet, McLaren, and other “New Light” leaders signing a mutual accord someday affirming that God is “in” everything? Will that proclamation be based on new “scientific findings” from quantum physics? Will they explain that Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and the “God” of Neale Donald Walsch and William Young had it right—that “the sub-atomic reality” is that God is in every atom? That God really is—scientifically speaking—“in” everyone and everything?

But what about the inevitable reaction that will come from those referred to by Rick Warren as “fundamentalists”7 when they accuse Warren of flip-flopping? Will Warren defend his new worldview by repeating what he said at the Saddleback Civil Forum—that “sometimes flip-flopping is smart because you actually have decided a better position based on knowledge that you didn’t have”? Armed with seemingly scientific “facts” from quantum physics, will Warren defend his new worldview by stating, “That’s not flip-flopping. Sometimes that’s growing in wisdom”? Is this where Warren, Sweet, and other Christian leaders will try to take the church? Are they about to take a big “quantum leap” into the New Spirituality of a New Age that is based on the findings of the “new science”? Given the continued New Age implications of the emerging Purpose Driven movement, it would seem that this is a real possibility. (from A “Wonderful” Deception, chapter 13)

Notes:
1. Leonard Sweet, Quantum Spirituality, op. cit., p. 106.
2. Richard Abanes, “Leonard Sweet, Rick Warren, and the New Age,” http://abanes.com/warren_sweet.html.
3. Leonard Sweet, So Beautiful (Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2009), p. 279, #118.
4. Ibid., p. 101.
5. Ibid., p. 256, #22.
6. Ibid., p. 278, #107.
7. Rick Warren referred to “Christian fundamentalism” as “one of the big enemies of the 21st century.” See: Paul Nussbaum, “The purpose-driven pastor,” Philadelphia Inquirer, Jan. 08, 2006, http://web.archive.org/web/20060522084523/www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/living/religion/13573441.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp.
On May 23, 2005, Rick Warren spoke at the Pew Forum on Religion and stated the following: “Today there really aren’t that many Fundamentalists left; I don’t know if you know that or not, but they are such a minority; there aren’t that many Fundamentalists left in America. . . . Now the word ‘fundamentalist’ actually comes from a document in the 1920s called the Five Fundamentals of the Faith. And it is a very legalistic, narrow view of Christianity.” See: “Myths of the Modern Megachurch,” http://pewforum.org/events/index.php?EventID=80.

What I am proposing to do is to narrow that gap between pantheism and Christianity by bringing out what one might call the Christian soul of pantheism or the pantheist aspect of Christianity.1 Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Now I realize that, on the model of the incarnate God whom Christianity reveals to me, I can be saved only by becoming one with the universe. Thereby, too, my deepest ‘pantheist’ aspirations are satisfied.2 Chardin

I believe that the Messiah whom we await, whom we all without any doubt await, is the universal Christ; that is to say, the Christ of evolution.3 Chardin

“[Pierre Teilhard de Chardin] is twentieth-century Christianity’s major voice.” 4 Leonard Sweet

(by Warren B. Smith from A “Wonderful” Deception)
“As Christian As Anyone Can Get”

Given all of Leonard Sweet’s New Age/New Spirituality sympathies, Rick Warren has continued to work with Sweet and promote him rather than separate himself from him and expose him as the Bible admonishes him to do:

And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. (Ephesians 5:11)

There is an interesting twist here. Richard Abanes—Rick Warren’s most outspoken apologist and someone who has written extensively on the New Age—actually wrote an article defending Leonard Sweet and Warren’s involvement with him. In a 2008 article titled “Leonard Sweet, Rick Warren and the New Age,” Abanes writes:

Doctrinally/theologically, Leonard Sweet is about as Christian as anyone can get.5

Unbelievable! The man who consults with New Age leader David Spangler and describes [New Agers] Willis Harman, Matthew Fox, and M. Scott Peck as his “personal role models” and “heroes” is “about as Christian as anyone can get?” Perhaps Abanes has forgotten what he once wrote about Peck and Spangler in his 1995 book The Less Traveled Road and the Bible: A Scriptural Critique of the Philosophy of M. Scott Peck. In this book that Abanes co-wrote with H. Wayne House, in a section written by Abanes, he writes very forthrightly about Peck’s and Spangler’s involvement in the New Age movement. Describing both Peck and Spangler as “New Agers” and warning about their promotion of the New Age concept of “oneness,” Abanes writes:

Peck is echoing a concept found in Hinduism and Buddhism, namely, that all reality is oneness and that what we perceive to be individuality is an illusion . . . . The above concept is a major tenet of the New Age movement, as New Age spokesperson David Spangler demonstrates when he writes, “Oneness is a key concept. In a spiritual sense, the world has always been one. . . .”

Like all New Agers, Peck embraces the belief that realization of our oneness with God—or our own godhood—is essential to spiritual growth and freedom from problems. Attaining godhood is really the only reason we exist. Realization of our divinity is also the whole purpose behind evolution, which is another “miracle” to Peck.6

Given these strong warnings, why is Richard Abanes now defending Leonard Sweet from those who are concerned about Sweet’s enchantment with the same M. Scott Peck and David Spangler that Abanes had previously exposed as New Agers? Rather than taking Sweet to task for aligning himself with New Agers like Peck and Spangler, Abanes takes Sweet’s critics to task. Almost inexplicably, Abanes admonishes Sweet’s critics for suggesting there are New Age implications not only to Sweet’s teachings but also to Rick Warren’s involvement with Sweet. This seems to contradict his own past writings about Peck, Spangler, and the New Age.

As an apologist for Rick Warren, Abanes obviously wishes to protect Warren. But in this case he is hurting him more than helping him. In refusing to acknowledge the New Age implications of Warren’s involvement with a New Age sympathizer like Leonard Sweet, Abanes does a great disservice to the body of Christ—and to Rick Warren himself.

One final note of irony in regard to Richard Abanes, Leonard Sweet, M. Scott Peck, and the New Age. In the introduction to his 1995 book about M. Scott Peck, Abanes actually quoted from the journal article I had written about Peck earlier that same year. In my article, which was titled “M. Scott Peck: Community and the Cosmic Christ,” I described how Peck had initiated a spiritual “revolution” that was attempting to redefine biblical Christianity with deceptive New Age teachings that came in the name of Christ. Recognizing the validity of my warnings about Peck and the New Age, Abanes opened his book by favorably quoting me. He wrote:

Christian author Warren Smith notes in a 1995 article for the SCP Journal that Peck single-handedly “helped to spark a spiritual revolution that is still going on today.” Peck’s influence on the Christian church has been especially strong since his alleged conversion in 1980 to Christianity. Smith explains:

“His [Peck’s] writings over the last decade or so have also caused Christians to reexamine their faith in light of his teachings. His books are often found in Christian bookstores. There is no question that his writings and his endorsements of others have had a profound impact on the spiritual marketplace.”7

Doesn’t Richard Abanes see that the statement he quoted from my article back then is just as applicable today? That this same deceptive “spiritual revolution” is still going on? Only now, M. Scott Peck’s “spiritual revolution” is coming even more directly from within the church through New Age sympathizers like Leonard Sweet and others. (By Warren B. Smith from chapter, 11 of A “Wonderful” Deception - to read entire chapter 11 free online, click here.)

LTRP P.S.For those who believe that Leonard Sweet is “as Christian as anyone can get,” consider the following two quotes from Sweet and Brian McLaren’s book, A is for Abductive:

“This book would not have been possible without a deep compatibility of perspectives between Brian [McLaren] and me. - ”Preface by Leonard Sweet” (p. 10) of A is for Abductive

“I needed to seek out some new mentors, and Len [Sweet] was the first on my list.  “Preface by Brian McLaren” (p. 13) from A is for Abductive

Notes:

1. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Christianity and Evolution (Harcourt, 1969), p. 56
2. Ibid., p. 128.
3. Ibid., p. 95.
4. Leonard Sweet, Quantum Spirituality(Dayton, OH, Whaleprints, 1994), p. 106
5.  Richard Abanes, “Leonard Sweet, Rick Warren, and the New Age,” http://web.archive.org/web/20080214224312/http://abanes.com/warren_sweet.html. 
6. Richard Abanes and H. Wayne House, The Less Traveled Road and the Bible: A Scriptural Critique of the Philosophy of M. Scott Peck (Camp Hill, PA: Horizon Books, 1995), pp. 28-29.
7. Ibid., pp. 2-3.

LTRP Note: Lighthouse Trails finds it no surprise that popular preacher John Piper has invited New Age sympathizer Leonard Sweet co-worker Rick Warren to speak at his upcoming Desiring God conference.  In 2006, Piper invited contemplative proponent Mark Driscoll to his conference, causing a stir with many devoted Piper-followers. Worth noting, Rick Warren and  co-worker Leonard Sweet are sharing platforms lately with many popular evangelical leaders (e.g., Joel Rosenberg with Sweet at Breakforth, Rick Warren with Greg Laurie and Chuck Smith at Harvest Crusade, Calvary Chapel pastor Skip Heitzig with Leonard Sweet at Heitzig’s church (later this summer). For those who don’t understand the “new” spirituality and the hoped-for “new reformation” of Rick Warren and Leonard Sweet, maybe it is a good time to research this out.

Commentary – by Ingrid Schlueter (Crosstalk)
“Rick Warren to Speak at John Piper’s Desiring God Conference

It has been confirmed that Rick Warren will be a speaker at the prominent Desiring God 2010 Conference. According to Jonathan Parnell at the offices of the conference, John Piper reportedly met Rick Warren at the funeral for Ralph Winter, and that is how the invitation came about.

Jonathan Parnell was quick to tell me that Dr. R.C. Sproul and Dr. Al Mohler would also be speakers, as if to assure me that things couldn’t get too out of hand with them there. It appears that Rick Warren is going to be given the opportunity to respond to charges that he is non-doctrinal in his messages. Parnell told me that Rick Warren is “more doctrinal” than he appears. That would be news to untold numbers of Christians who have seen their churches abandon the biblical Gospel by jumping on the Purpose-Driven bandwagon.

Additionally, one wonders exactly what doctrine undergirds Mr. Warren’s latest outrage, his involvement with Tony Blair’s Faith Foundation and its “North American offensive”, as Blair put it, with a purpose of “uniting all faiths.” That would be the doctrine of anti-christ.

Whatever Piper’s thinking is, it is plain that inviting Rick Warren to speak at his conference, giving him prime time to manipulate hearers and present himself as just another misunderstood leader, is a serious mistake. Piper’s years of credibility as a trustworthy minister of Gospel truth are being undermined by this decision. I was one of several who were personally invited to Saddleback by Mr. Warren to speak with him in a private meeting last year. The PR offensive was clever, but it failed. Warren rests not, day or night, in his attempts to bring his critics on board and end the troublesome dissent that always plagues him. To win over Piper and his followers would be a victory indeed.

Piper has also announced that he will be leaving on sabbatical on May 1. Hopefully, he will have time before he leaves to address the likely fallout from this decision. It is not a small thing.

Everywhere we see signs of the falling away talked about in Scripture. It is a warning to all of us to be sober and vigilant, because our adversary walks around, seeking whom he can devour. We need the full armor of God daily and to use our shield of faith and our Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. We also need to pray for discernment in this hour when so many, including leaders, are losing theirs.Click here for source.

From Warren B. Smith’s book, A “Wonderful” Deception:

If we want to possess a magical crystal for our New Age work, we need look no further than our own bodies and the cells that make them up.1 —David Spangler 1991

I am grateful to David Spangler for his help in formulating this “new cell” understanding of New Light leadership.2—Leonard Sweet 1991

Leonard Sweet, in acknowledging [New Age leaders] Willis Harman, Matthew Fox, M. Scott Peck, and the others he refers to as “New Light leaders” in Quantum Spirituality, states: 

I believe these are among the most creative religious leaders in America today. These are the ones carving out channels for new ideas to flow. In a way this book was written to guide myself through their channels and chart their progress. The book’s best ideas come from them.3

Speaking of spiritual “channels,” Sweet expresses his personal gratitude in Quantum Spiritualityto channeler and veteran New Age leader, David Spangler. . . .  A pioneering spokesperson for the New Age, Spangler has written numerous books over the years that include Emergence: The Rebirth of the Sacred, Revelation: The Birth of a New Age, and Reimagination of the World: A Critique of the New Age, Science, and Popular Culture. His book Revelation: The Birth of a New Age is a compilation of channeled transmissions he received from his disembodied spirit-guide “John.” At one point in Revelation, Spangler documents what “John” prophesied about “the energies of the Cosmic Christ” and “Oneness”:

As the energies of the Cosmic Christ become increasingly manifest within the etheric life of Earth, many individuals will begin to respond with the realization that the Christ dwells within them. They will feel his presence moving within and through them and will begin to awaken to their heritage of Christhood and Oneness with God, the Beloved.4

Unbelievably, in a modern-day consultation that bears more than a casual resemblance to King Saul’s consultation with the witch of Endor (1 Samuel 28:7), Leonard Sweet acknowledges in Quantum Spiritualitythat he was privately corresponding with channeler David Spangler.5 In Quantum Spirituality, Sweet writes about what he calls his “new cell” understanding of New Light leadership, then closes his book by thanking  Spangler for “his help in formulating this ‘new cell’ understanding of New Light Leadership.” Sweet writes:

I am grateful to David Spangler for his help in formulating this “new cell” understanding of New Light leadership.6

LIGHTHOUSE TRAILS REPORT:This coming June, Calvary Chapel Albuquerque (a veteran Calvary Chapel church pastored by Skip Heitzig) will host the National Worship Leader Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico and will feature New Age sympathizer and emerging church leader, Leonard Sweet. The NWLC event will take place in three different U.S. locations with Sweet participating in two of them.

The worship conference is presented by Worship Leader magazine, whose chief editor is Chuck Fromm (Chuck Smith, Sr.’s nephew). On the conference website, a banner promotion by Greg Laurie, (another veteran Calvary Chapel pastor) sits in a prominent spot. Laurie states: “In Worship Leader magazine, you hear from the leading thinkers, artists, and pastors on how we can more effectively worship God.”7

With general promotion of Worship Leader magazine by someone as popular as Greg Laurie, and with the conference taking place at one of the larger Calvary Chapel churches, undoubtedly, the event will be accepted by many Christians as a credible, trustworthy conference. But Leonard Sweet’s involvement should cause serious concern for believers.

Leonard Sweet has been a leading figure in bringing the “new” spirituality into the evangelical church for more than a decade and a half. From his book, Quantum Spirituality (which without question shows his unswerving affinity toward major New Age leaders and the New Age philosophy that God is IN all things) to his audio series, The Tides of Change, withRick Warren in 1995, to his book he co-authored with atonement denier Brian McLaren, A is for Abductive: the Language of the Emerging Church, to a number of other books he has written that continue to show his New Age propensities, Sweet has consistently proven himself to be a New Age sympathizer.  And for him to be included in a conference at a Calvary Chapel church (after the founder of the movement denounced the emerging spirituality a few years ago) speaks volumes about the slide into deception that the evangelical church is making.

Warren Smith, in his cutting-edge book A “Wonderful” Deception (an expose on Rick Warren, Leonard Sweet, and the “new” emerging Christianity), wrote two strong documented chapters specifically on the New Age views of Leonard Sweet. Perhaps one of the most troubling things Smith reveals about Sweet is Sweet’s statement about “the father of the New Age movement,”8 Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. Sweet calls the late panentheist Chardin “Twentieth-century Christianity’s major voice.”9 But Chardin does not represent biblical Christianity–on the contrary, he falls in a spiritual camp that embraces the “cosmic Christ,” which is the “I AM God” in every creature. Even though this christ-consciousness-in-all-people belief rejects the true Gospel of Jesus Christ, Sweet has openly aligned himself with Chardin. In Sweet’s book, Aqua Church, he favorably quotes Chardin arrogantly saying: “Christ is in the Church in the same way as the sun is before our eyes. We see the same sun as our fathers saw, and yet we understand it in a much more magnificent way.”10 Sweet’s alignment with Chardin’s New Age views is nothing short of heresy.

The following quotes from Chardin underscore his New Age worldview and belief in a universal New Age Christ. He writes:

[T]he Cross still stands. . . .

But this is on one condition, and one only: that it expand itself to the dimensions of a new age, and cease to present itself to us as primarily (or even exclusively) the sign of a victory over sin.11

A general convergence of religions upon a universal Christ who fundamentally satisfies them all: that seems to me the only possible conversion of the world, and the only form in which a religion of the future can be conceived.12 

I believe that the Messiah whom we await, whom we all without any doubt await, is the universal Christ; that is to say, the Christ of evolution.13 (emphasis added)

As the world moves further toward major spiritual darkness, how can Christian leaders be so willing to embrace those who say they represent Christianity but in essence are helping to bring in a false gospel and a false universal New Age christ, one that will eventually deceive the whole world (Revelation 12:9)?  

By what is shaping up, it appears it may not be too long before the spirituality of Leonard Sweet, Rick Warren, and some Calvary Chapel pastors will all bear the same shade of the new spirituality, one which occultist Alice Bailey said would usher in the New Age/New Spirituality cosmic “Christ.” And with the throttle pulled all the way back on contemplative mysticism* (the vehicle  that will convince the masses to embrace this “Christ”), it’s just a matter of time until Leonard Sweet and Rick Warren’s tides of change will become a reality, and the stage will be set for the great falling away the Bible speaks of: “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.” II Thessalonians 2:3

For those who may be skeptical about what we are saying here about the role that mysticism will play in this great deception, consider the words of Leonard Sweet:

Mysticism, once cast to the sidelines of the Christian tradition, is now situated in postmodernist culture near the center.… In the words of one of the greatest theologians of the twentieth century, Jesuit philosopher of religion/dogmatist Karl Rahner, “The Christian of tomorrow will be a mystic, one who has experienced something, or he will be nothing.”14

The question must be asked, what is Skip Heitzig thinking by giving Leonard Sweet a platform at his Calvary Chapel church? If Calvary Chapel goes in the direction of Leonard Sweet, Rick Warren, and others, Calvary Chapel could end up embracing the same New Age/New Spirituality teachings of Teilhard de Chardin, David Spangler, and Karl Rahner.

 In Warren Smith’s 10th and 11th chapters of A “Wonderful” Deception, Smith succinctly describes the New Age/New Spirituality of Leonard Sweet. We hope you will read this vital information (which we have provided in the links below) and see for yourselves the serious predicament the Christian church is presently in. Let us warn our friends, families, and the body of Christ about what is going on and encourage them to “earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints (Jude 1:3).

Chapter 10, A “Wonderful” Deception: Rick Warren, Leonard Sweet, and Sweet’s “New Light” Leaders

Chapter 11, A “Wonderful” Deception: Chief Saddleback Apologist Defends New Age Sympathizer Leonard Sweet

* To understand the spiritual formation (i.e., contemplative prayer) movement and its impact on countless Christians today, also read Ray Yungen’s book, A Time of Departing (which includes sections on Rick Warren and Leonard Sweet).

Notes:
1. David Spangler and William Irwin Thompson, Reimagination of the World: A Critique of the New Age, Science, and Popular Culture (Sante Fe, NM: Bear & Company Publishing, 1991), p. 62.
2. Leonard Sweet, Quantum Spirituality (Dayton, OH: Whaleprints for Spirit Venture Ministries, 1991, 1994), p. 312.
3. Ibid., ix.
4. David Spangler, The Revelation: Birth of a New Age (Elgin, IL: Lorian Press, 1976 ), p. 177.
5. Leonard Sweet, Quantum Spirituality, op. cit., p. 338, #42.
6. Ibid., p. 312.
7. http://www.nationalworshipleaderconference.com/
8. Mike Oppenheimer, “A NEW Anointing-Pentecost” (Let Us Reason Ministries, http://www.letusreason.org/Current66.htm).
9.  Leonard Sweet, Quantum Spirituality, op. cit., p. 106.
10. Leonard Sweet, Aqua Church, p. 39. 
11. Teilhard de Chardin, Christianity and Evolution, pp. 219-220.
12. Ibid., p. 130.
13. Ibid., p. 95.
14. Leonard Sweet, Quantum Spirituality, p. 76, quoted by Ray Yungen in A Time of Departing, p. 160.

Related Articles:

2009 National Worship Conference Brings Contemplatives, Laurie, and Sweet Together

Rick Warren’s Small Group Conference Speaker [Sweet] Says Small Groups Lead to “Christ Consciousness”

LTRP Note: As the organized Christian church and church leaders continue in their plunge toward apostasy, turning their heads and ignoring the truth, all the while attempting to discredit those who are trying to warn, more and more people are being pulled into this tidal wave of deception. When Lighthouse Trails wrote a press release in 2005 showing that Rick Warren was planning on using New Age sympathizer Ken Blanchard to help implement his Global P.E.A.C.E. Plan and train leaders, attempts were made to discredit Lighthouse Trails.

Now 5 years later, as various Christian organizations, denominations, and movements have spun out of control and hastened toward major spiritual deception through contemplative mysticism, kingdom now theology, and emerging spirituality (all part of Satan’s Great Lie that started in the Garden of Eden), others have joined in attempting to discredit Lighthouse Trails and other concerned ministries.

In response to some of these attempts, Lighthouse Trails author Ray Yungen wrote an article in 2009 titled Is Lighthouse Trails haters? This stemmed from a Calvary Chapel event in 2009 called Movement 2009, in which a Calvary Chapel leader told thousands of youth that the haters tried to stop us but they didn’t. This was in reference to Lighthouse Trails previous reporting that Calvary Chapel was going to use emerging church author Mike Erre to address these youth. Erre’s book, Death by Church is a primer on the “new” emerging spirituality.

In 2009, Warren B. Smith wrote a book titled A “Wonderful” Deception: The Further New Age Implications of the Emerging Purpose Driven Movement. In this book, Smith tells the story of what happened after Lighthouse Trails wrote that 2005 press release on Rick Warren and Ken Blanchard. Today, we are presenting this section of the book in its entirety because we think people need to know what is going on behind the scenes and know that things are not always as they seem.

As we witness the lacking of a majority of Christian leaders to warn against  last days apostasy IN the church (not just secular deceptions in the world), we soberly continue to report on what is taking place. If your pastors and leaders are telling you NOT to listen to Lighthouse Trails and others who are critical of the evangelical church’s move toward a “new” Christianity, a paradigm shift they say, please do your own research before you take their word for it.

To illustrate just how far Christian leaders have slipped in contending for the faith and courageously standing against those who are bringing in dangerous false doctrines, in the summer of 2009, at a Greg Laurie Harvest Crusade, Calvary Chapel founder Chuck Smith introduced Rick Warren as his “good friend.” Warren, who was sharing the platform with Smith and Laurie that day, then addressed the crowd. Just a few years earlier, Calvary Chapel had publicly denounced the Purpose Driven teachings, saying: “The teaching and positions of Rick Warren have come into conflict with us at Calvary Chapel. Pastor Chuck has directed us to discontinue this product [Rick Warren's book, The Purpose Driven Life] effective immediately.”1

From chapters 4 & 5 of A “Wonderful” Deception by Warren B. Smith

In a May 31, 2005 midnight e-mail to Lighthouse Trails Publishing, Rick Warren made it clear that he was not happy with George Mair or with Lighthouse Trails regarding the subject of Ken Blanchard. With an apparent effort to take the spotlight off Blanchard’s New Age affinities, Warren attempted to place it on George Mair and Lighthouse Trails instead.–Warren Smith

In April 2005, a new book was published about Rick Warren. It was titled A Life With Purpose: Reverend Rick Warren: The Most Inspiring Pastor of Our Time. The book was an extremely favorable presentation of Warren and the Purpose Driven movement. Author George Mair genuinely liked and respected Warren as he described the Saddleback pastor’s life and ministry. Mair’s book was carried in major bookstores around the country—including Christian bookstores. The author’s high regard for Warren was evident throughout A Life With Purpose. Early on in his book, Mair writes:

I knew one thing for sure about Rick Warren: his is a fascinating story. A humble man with humble beginnings, he is changing America—and the world—“one soul at a time.”2

After hearing him preach and experiencing Saddleback Church, I understand why millions are listening to this man, and knew that the story behind the movement deserves to be told.3

His demeanor as the founder and pastor of one of the largest churches in the world reflects a man whose focus is on his mission to serve the Lord by bringing in the unchurched souls—the lost sheep—to embrace and celebrate the saving Grace of Jesus Christ.4

A Life With Purpose is filled with continuous praise for Rick Warren and his Purpose Driven ministry. Nothing George Mair said could be considered negative or critical about Warren. In fact, the rare comment of a critic is usually offset by the author himself. For example, Mair states:

Another thing those critics fail to take into account is the role that Rick himself plays in the phenomenal growth of his church. Rick Warren is a truly charismatic spiritual leader. It’s clear to anyone who experiences one of his Saddleback services that he truly loves what he does. He relishes standing up at the podium, looking out at the smiling crowd, and sharing the Good News of Jesus.5

There is no question that A Life With Purpose is an overwhelmingly positive account of Rick Warren and the Purpose Driven movement. However, at one point George Mair—in an almost naive and non-judgmental way—talks about Norman Vincent Peale and the New Age influence Peale had exerted on the Church Growth movement. Mair frames his remarks about Peale by writing:

The numbers speak for themselves. The Church Growth Movement has been wildly successful in Southern California . . . as well as in the rest of the country. Which prompts us to ask: what are the roots of this powerful movement? Rick Warren may be the foremost figure in the CGM today, but he’s only a piece—albeit an important one—of a greater development in the Christian Church. Who and what gave birth to this movement in which Rick would play such a vital role?6

Mair answers his own question by stating what other writers have known and also set forth—that it was Norman Vincent Peale who really provided the spiritual foundation of today’s Church Growth movement. In a sub-section titled “Laying the Groundwork: New Age Preacher Norman Vincent Peale,” Mair writes:

Reverend Norman Vincent Peale is, to many, the most prophetic and moving New Age preacher of the twentieth century. He is also the father of the self-help movement that formed the groundwork for the Church Growth Movement. Peale formed perhaps the most dramatic and meaningful link between religion and psychology of any religious leader in history. It is this same approachable, therapeutic brand of religion that many mega churches, including Saddleback, put forward today. It is this kind of religion that is so appealing to the masses of unchurched men and women that Rick Warren hopes to reach.7

George Mair goes on to state that Saddleback Church “distinctly bears the stamp of Norman Vincent Peale”:

Peale’s ministry was the first to raise the question that still faces mega churches today: is it spiritual compromise if a pastor simplifies his message in order to make it appealing to a huge number of seekers?8

His biographer, [Carol R.] George, says, “Norman Vincent Peale is undoubtedly one of the most controversial figures in modern American Christianity.” But no matter what people think about his theories, they have to acknowledge Peale’s remarkable unification of psychology and theology. Without that unification, mega churches wouldn’t exist today. . . . In that sense, Saddleback distinctly bears the stamp of Reverend Norman Vincent Peale.9

While Mair explains that it was Peale who laid the New Age “groundwork” for today’s Church Growth movement, he notes that it was Robert Schuller who helped to create the effectiveness of the megachurch movement on a national scale:

But it’s hard to argue that Schuller was not the first person to be effective on a national scale. He was unquestionably a pioneer in the Church Growth Movement and a major influence on Rick Warren.10

In his book, George Mair notes that Rick Warren had attended the Robert H. Schuller Institute for Successful Church Leadership.11 Then, after describing some of the various church growth leaders up to and including the 1980s, Mair writes:

But in the 1990s, following in the footsteps of Peale and Schuller, the leader of the next generation of Church Growth Movement pastors emerged. That man was none other than Rick Warren.12

In researching his book, George Mair had discovered the same Lutheran Quarterly article sent to me the month before by the Indiana pastor. Citing the article, Mair wrote how Norman Vincent Peale had been accused of plagiarizing material from an occult source:

Some of Peale’s former colleagues and another minister went so far as to accuse him of plagiarism. Writing in the Lutheran Quarterly, Reverend John Gregory Tweed of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Reverend George D. Exoo of Pittsburgh wrote that many of Peale’s uplifting affirmations originated with an “obscure teacher of occult science” named Florence Scovel Shinn. They based this charge on their comparison of words in Peale’s writings and those of Shinn’s book, The Game of Life and How to Play It, in which they found some identical phrases.13

In A Life With Purpose, George Mair also reveals that Norman Vincent Peale had been accused of using unattributed material from occult/New Age author Florence Scovel Shinn. From my own research that had been spurred by that same Lutheran Quarterly article, I learned that Peale had much more interest and involvement in the occult than I realized. He had openly endorsed the works of key New Age figures like Ernest Holmes, Eric Butterworth, and Bernie Siegel. Because questions had already arisen regarding Rick Warren’s undiscerning reference to Siegel and Warren’s use of unaccredited material from Robert Schuller in the The Purpose Driven Life, the very last thing Warren needed was a book—no matter how much it praised him—intimating a New Age link running from Peale to Schuller to Warren himself. In short, Warren did not need any more New Age implications arising that would cast further doubt upon his Purpose Driven movement. But ironically—at least on the surface—it wasn’t Mair’s remarks about Peale that stirred up concern at Saddleback Church but rather an offhand remark Mair had made in his book about author and businessman Ken Blanchard….

It was not until the release of George Mair’s book in 2005 that some people learned that Rick Warren had announced back in 2003 that Ken Blanchard would be working with him on the P.E.A.C.E. Plan. When Lighthouse Trails Publishing learned about Blanchard’s involvement with Warren, they were concerned. One of their authors, Ray Yungen, had been researching the New Age for many years and often came across Blanchard, who had been consistently endorsing and writing the forewords to New Age books and organizations. On April 19, 2005, Lighthouse Trails issued a press release, quoting George Mair’s book that Warren had “hired” Blanchard to work with him on the P.E.A.C.E. Plan.19 Lighthouse Trails warned of the serious New Age implications of allowing someone as undiscerning as Blanchard to teach Christians around the world how to “lead like Jesus.”The press release documented many of Blanchard’s New Age endorsements including Deepak Chopra’s book, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success and a book titled What Would Buddha Do at Work? for which Blanchard wrote the foreword. (To read all of chapter 4 and 5 of A “Wonderful” Deception and for endnotes, click here.)

The Observer – UK
(courtesy Discern the Time Forum)

Former prime minister builds network of Christian allies as he prepares to launch a religious ‘offensive’ in North America

Tony Blair is preparing to launch a “faith offensive” across the United States over the next year, after building up relationships with a network of influential religious leaders and faith organisations.

With Afghanistan and Iraq casting a shadow over his popularity at home in Britain, Blair’s focus has increasingly shifted across the Atlantic, to where the nexus of faith and power is immutable and he is feted like a rock star.

According to the annual accounts of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, a UK-based charity that promotes cohesion between the major faiths, the foundation is to develop a US arm that will pursue a host of faith-based projects. The accounts show that his foundation has an impressive – and, in at least one case, controversial – set of faith contacts. Sitting on some £4.5m in funds as of April last year, mostly gathered through donations, it is now well placed to make its voice heard.

The foundation’s advisory council of religious leaders includes Rick Warren, powerful founder of the California-based Saddleback church. It attracts congregations of nearly 20,000 and is reportedly one of the largest in the US. Warren, who has addressed the UN and the World Economic Forum in Davos, has been named one of the “15 world leaders who matter most” and one of the “100 most influential people in the world”.

His influence was confirmed in December 2008 when Barack Obama chose him to give the invocation at his presidential inauguration. But the decision angered many liberals, who see Warren as an opponent of gay rights and abortion on demand; a prominent alliance with Warren is likely to attract similar attacks on the former British prime minister.

Also on the council is David Coffey, president of the Baptist World Alliance (BWA), a Virginia-based network of churches that spans the globe and is particularly active in the US.

Another initiative has been to team up with the Belinda Stronach Foundation in Toronto. Unknown in the UK, Stronach, daughter of a Canadian billionaire, is hugely influential in Canada where as a philanthropist, businesswoman and former politician she has served in both the Conservative and Liberal parties. Attractive and barely into her 40s, media commentators have dubbed her “bubba’s blonde”, a reference to her friendship with Bill Clinton. Click here to continue reading.

A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land; The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?—Jeremiah 5:30-31

LTRP Note: The following is an excerpt from Warren B. Smith’s new book, A “Wonderful” Deception. The book begins with a recap of Smith’s earlier book, Deceived on Purpose: The New Age Implications of the Purpose Driven Church. Because more and more churches everyday are deciding to adopt the  ”Purpose Driven,” paradigm, this material is vital to understand. Please feel free to print and distribute this posting. If you would like it in a printable PDF with preface, introduction and endnotes, click here.

by Warren B. Smith
“Deceived on Purpose”
(from chapter 1 of A “Wonderful” Deception)

I was working as a hospice social worker on the California coast in the late summer of 2003 when I first read Rick Warren’s book The Purpose Driven Life. Having been formerly involved in the New Age movement, I immediately recognized some serious New Age implications to Warren’s Purpose Driven movement. Feeling compelled to warn the church about the spiritual confusion that could result from some of his teachings, I resigned my hospice job to write Deceived on Purpose: The New Age Implications of the Purpose Driven Church. The book was published in August of 2004.

In Deceived on Purpose, while I did not describe Rick Warren or his Purpose Driven Church as “New Age,” I did point out the many New Age implications regarding his teachings and the danger those teachings posed for the church.

Because Saddleback apologists have misrepresented these warnings and because my concerns have grown significantly since I wrote Deceived on Purpose, I have written this follow-up book. To lay a proper foundation for A “Wonderful” Deception, I will briefly summarize some of the basic concerns I expressed in Deceived on Purpose. I will recap these in the remainder of this first chapter.

Ten Basic Concerns

1) Rick Warren Cites New Age Leader
In The Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren introduces his main themes of “hope” and “purpose.” Inexplicably, Warren chooses to introduce “hope” and “purpose” in his book by citing Dr. Bernie Siegel—a veteran New Age leader who claims to have a spirit-guide named George.1 Somehow, readers of The Purpose Driven Life are expected to believe that God inspired Warren to introduce the themes of hope and purpose by referencing the “wisdom” of Bernie Siegel, an author and leader in the New Age movement. But the Bible warns that this kind of worldly wisdom is not from God and can confuse and stumble believers, and completely mislead unbelievers:

This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. (James 3:15)

Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way. (Romans 14:13)

2) Rick Warren Sends Confusing New Age Message: “God is in everything”
Out of the fifteen different Bible versions Rick Warren uses in The Purpose Driven Life, he chooses to cite Ephesians 4:6 from a new translation that erroneously conveys the panentheistic New Age teaching that God is “in” everything. According to New Age leaders, this teaching is foundational to the New Age/New Spirituality.2 Yet of these fifteen Bible versions Warren uses in his book, he chooses the New Century Version that has potentially misled millions of Purpose Driven readers to believe this key New Age doctrine that God is “in” everything. Regarding God, Warren writes:

The Bible says, “He rules everything and is everywhere and is in everything”3

The New Century Version quoted by Rick Warren verbalizes what A Course in Miracles and my other New Age books taught me years ago—that God is “in” everyone and everything. This completely misrepresents what the apostle Paul is saying in Ephesians 4:6. In Deceived on Purpose, I explain:

In this Scripture Paul is not writing to the world at large. The book of Ephesians is Paul’s letter to the Church of Ephesus and to the faithful followers of Jesus Christ. In Ephesians 1:1 he makes it clear that he is writing to “the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus.”

According to properly translated Scripture, God is not “in” everyone and everything, and God’s Holy Spirit only indwells those who truly accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior (John 14:15-17; Acts 5:32). In Deceived on Purpose, I wrote:

Because the Church of Ephesus was composed of believers who had accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior, God had sent His Holy Spirit to them. Therefore, as a result of their conversion God’s Holy Spirit resided in them all. Thus, Paul is only addressing the believers of Ephesus and the “faithful in Christ Jesus” when he stated that God is “above all, and through all, and in you all.” He was not saying that God is present in unbelievers. He was not saying that God is “in” everyone and “in” everything. That is what the New Age teaches.4

It is vital to understand the difference in renderings of Ephesians 4:6. Compare the New Century Version that Rick Warren quotes with the King James Bible:

He rules everything and is everywhere and is in everything. (NCV)

One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. (KJV)

3) Rick Warren and The Message
In The Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren cites Eugene Peterson’s The Message more than any other Bible version. The Message is laden with its own set of questionable New Age implications. In the first chapter of The Purpose Driven Life, five of the six Scriptures Warren cites come from The Message. Warren states that The Message is a Bible “paraphrase,” yet he frequently writes, “the Bible says” when quoting from The Message.5

One of the many examples of the New Age implications of The Message is seen in Eugene Peterson’s paraphrasing of the Lord’s Prayer. Where most translations read “in earth, as it is in heaven,” Peterson inserts the occult/New Age phrase “as above, so below.” The significance of this mystical occult saying is seen clearly in As Above, So Below, a book published in 1992 by the editors of New Age Journal. Chief editor Ronald S. Miller describes how the occult/magical saying “as above, so below” conveys the “fundamental truth about the universe”—the teaching that “we are all one” because God is “immanent” or “within” everyone and everything. Miller writes:

Thousands of years ago in ancient Egypt, the great master alchemist Hermes Trismegistus, believed to be a contemporary of the Hebrew prophet Abraham, proclaimed this fundamental truth about the universe: “As above, so below; as below, so above.” This maxim implies that the transcendent God beyond the physical universe and the immanent God within ourselves are one. Heaven and Earth, spirit and matter, the invisible and the visible worlds form a unity to which we are intimately linked.6

Miller continues describing the meaning of “as above, so below” by quoting Sufi scholar Reshad Field:

“‘As above, so below’ means that the two worlds are instantaneously seen to be one when we realize our essential unity with God. . . . The One and the many, time and eternity, are all One.”7 (ellipsis in original)

In 2004 when I searched “as above, so below” on the Internet, the first entry listed further defined this “key” New Age term:

This phrase comes from the beginning of The Emerald Tablet and embraces the entire system of traditional and modern magic which was inscribed upon the tablet in cryptic wording by Hermes Trismegistus. The significance of this phrase is that it is believed to hold the key to all mysteries. All systems of magic are claimed to function by this formula. “‘That which is above is the same as that which is below’ . . . The universe is the same as God, God is the same as man.”8

Most of the references, either on websites or in books and magazines containing the phrase “as above, so below” describe the term as having the same occult/mystical/New Age/esoteric/magical sources. One website states:

This ancient phrase, “As above, so below” describes the Oneness of All That Is.9

In Deceived on Purpose, I discuss my concerns over Rick Warren placing such great emphasis on Eugene Peterson’s The Message. When I looked up Ephesians 4:6 in The Message, Peterson’s paraphrase (like the New Century Version) also definitely lends itself to the New Age interpretation that God is present “in” everyone. In The Message, Peterson introduces his readers—with no parenthetical warnings or explanations—to the concept of ‘Oneness’:

You have one Master, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who rules over all, works through all, and is present in all. Everything you are and think and do is permeated with Oneness.10

The “as above, so below” God “in” everything “Oneness” message of Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase The Message sounds strikingly similar to the same “as above, so below” God “in” everything “Oneness” message of the New Age/New Spirituality. Such a teaching is contrary to what the Bible teaches. We are only “one” in Christ Jesus when we repent of our sins and accept Him as our Lord and Savior. Galatians 3:26-28 states:

For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

4) The Purpose Driven Life’s Distorted View of Bible Prophecy
In The Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren strongly discourages the study of prophecy. He states that “in essence” Jesus told his disciples: “The details of my return are none of your business.”11 Contrary to what Warren writes, in Jesus’ discussion on the Mount of Olives, He tells His disciples that an understanding of the details of His return is very important. He provides much needed prophetic information so that His followers will not be deceived about the details of His return at the end of time. In Deceived on Purpose, I explain:

He warns that there will be false teachers and false teachings that will try to confuse the details of His return. He provides the prophetic detail because He didn’t want His disciples, or any of us, mistaking Antichrist’s arrival for His own return. He initiates His lengthy prophetic discourse by saying, “Take heed that no man deceive you.” He ends His discussion by warning them to “watch” and “be ready.”12

As someone who has come out of New Age teachings, I find it very disturbing that Rick Warren writes that the details of Jesus’ return are none of our business. In Deceived on Purpose, I talk about the role that these details had in my own eventual conversion:

Understanding the events surrounding His return was critical to understanding how badly I had been deceived by my New Age teachings. I had learned from reading the Bible that there is a false Christ on the horizon and that for a number of years I had unknowingly been one of his followers. Because the Bible’s clear authoritative teachings about the real Jesus and His true return had been brought to my attention, I was able to see how deceived I was. By understanding that there is a false Christ trying to counterfeit the true Christ’s return, I was able to renounce the false Christ I had been following and commit my life to the true Jesus Christ.13

5) Rick Warren and John Marks Templeton
Rick Warren unwittingly lent himself to the “purposes” of New Age sympathizer John Marks Templeton, as shown in Deceived on Purpose:

Even as I write, [New Age leader] Neale Donald Walsch’s New Age colleague Wayne Dyer is teaching the principles of the New Spirituality to an unsuspecting American public on a 3-hour PBS television special. His subject? The power of intention and purpose. While Dyer was cleverly presenting the New Spirituality by talking about the power of “purpose,” Rick Warren was judging a “Power of Purpose” essay contest for the New Age-based Templeton Foundation. John Templeton—with his strong New Age and metaphysical leanings—believes in a “shared divinity between God and humanity.”14

I pointed out that the late Templeton had been featured on the cover of Robert Schuller’s Possibilities magazine and was described as “my wonderful role model” by Neale Donald Walsch.

6) Robert Schuller’s Influence on Rick Warren
I discovered that Rick Warren had been greatly influenced by Robert Schuller and that he frequently used unattributed material from Schuller’s writings. In promoting his 2004 Robert H. Schuller Institute for Successful Church Leadership, Schuller stated that Warren was a graduate of his Institute.15 Furthermore, on an April 4, 2004 Hour of Power television broadcast, Schuller described how Warren had come to his Institute for Successful Church Leadership “time after time.”16 And Rick Warren’s wife, Kay, was quoted in a 2002 Christianity Today article saying that Schuller “had a profound influence on Rick.”17

In reading Schuller’s past writings, it soon became apparent that Schuller had indeed greatly influenced Rick Warren’s ministry and that Warren often used Schuller’s material without any attribution to Schuller.

One of the many examples where Warren emulates Schuller’s material can be seen in the following comparison of their writings. In his 1982 book Self-Esteem: The New Reformation, Robert Schuller writes:

Our very survival “as a species depends on hope. And without hope we will lose the faith that we can cope.”18

Twenty years later in his 2002 book The Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren writes:

Hope is as essential to your life as air and water. You need hope to cope.19

Another example of how Rick Warren mirrors Robert Schuller is found in Warren’s 1995 book The Purpose Driven Church. He concludes his book by writing:

Accept the challenge of becoming a purpose-driven church! The greatest churches in history are yet to be built.20

Rick Warren’s statement is almost a direct quote from Schuller’s 1986 book Your Church Has A Fantastic Future!, which quotes a pastor saying:

Ten years ago, I heard Dr. Robert Schuller say at his leadership conference, “The greatest churches in the world are yet to be built!”21

These are just two of many other examples I found where Rick Warren uses unattributed material from Schuller’s writings and teachings. In Deceived on Purpose, I wrote:

The more I read Robert Schuller, the more I was shocked at how so many of Rick Warren’s thoughts, ideas, references, words, terms, phrases, and quotes in The Purpose Driven Life seemed to be directly inspired by Schuller’s writings and teachings.22

7) Rick Warren and Robert Schuller’s “New Reformation” & “God’s Dream”
Rick Warren’s proposed “New Reformation” and his “God’s Dream” Global P.E.A.C.E. Plan are strikingly similar to Robert Schuller’s proposed “New Reformation” and his “God’s Dream” plan “to redeem society.” The only real difference between their basic plans is that Schuller proposed his “New Reformation” and “God’s Dream” plan twenty years previous to Warren. In his 1982 book Self-Esteem: The New Reformation, Schuller called for a “New Reformation” in the church.23 To accomplish this New Reformation he frequently invoked the metaphor “God’s Dream” to describe God’s “great plan to redeem society.”24 Twenty years later, Warren was also calling for a “New Reformation” in the church.25 To accomplish his proposed New Reformation, Warren also invoked the “God’s Dream” metaphor that Schuller had used over two decades earlier to describe his New Reformation and his “plan.”26 Warren described his new reformational P.E.A.C.E. Plan as “God’s Dream For You—And The World!,”27 which also happens to resemble the PEACE Plan proposed by Neale Donald Walsch.

In Deceived on Purpose, I wrote:

Following Schuller’s forty-year commitment to his church, Rick Warren made a forty-year commitment to the Saddleback community. He “grew” his mega-church by faithfully implementing all that he had learned from Schuller. . . . Now Schuller’s concept of “God’s Dream” was being used to inspire millions of Christians to get behind his [Warren’s] 5-Step P.E.A.C.E. Plan to “change the world”—a 5-Step P.E.A.C.E. Plan that, on paper, bore an eerie resemblance to the 5-Step PEACE Plan proposed by Neale Donald Walsch and his New Age “God.”28

8) New Age Embraces Schuller’s New Reformation
In Neale Donald Walsch’s 2002 book, The New Revelations, Walsch and his New Age “God” praise Robert Schuller’s ministry and laud Schuller’s call for a New Reformation. Walsch describes how he and his “God” are also calling for a “New Reformation.” In fact, they commend Schuller and believe that Schuller’s New Reformation can merge with their plan to help bridge the divide between the Christian church and the teachings of the New Age/New Spirituality. They also present their New Reformation in the form of a 5-Step PEACE Plan29 that is similarly put forth in the form of an acronym—much like Rick Warren’s 5-Step P.E.A.C.E. Plan.30 In The New Revelations: A Conversation with God, Walsch, in a conversation with his “God,” states:

Rev. Robert H. Schuller, the American Christian minister who founded the famous Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California, said twenty years ago in his book Self-Esteem: The New Reformation that what is needed is a second reformation within the Church, to move it away from its message of fear and guilt, retribution, and damnation, and toward a theology of self-esteem.31

Walsch quotes Schuller as saying that the “church” is “failing at the deepest level to generate within human beings that quality of personality that can result in the kinds of persons that would make our world a safe and sane society.”32 Walsch continues his conversation with “God” about Robert Schuller:

Dr. Schuller went on to suggest that “sincere Christians and church-persons can find a theological launching point of universal agreement if they can agree on the universal right and uncompromising need of every person to be treated with great respect simply because he or she is a human being!”33

Walsch then calls Schuller an “extraordinary minister” and quotes him again as saying:

“As a Christian, a theologian, and a churchman within the Reformed tradition, I must believe that it is possible for the church to exist even though it may be in serious error in substance, strategy, style or spirit.”34

Walsch adds:

But, he [Schuller] said, ultimately “theologians must have their international, universal, transcreedal, transcultural, transracial standard.”35

Walsch’s “God” answers Walsch:

Rev. Schuller was profoundly astute in his observations and incredibly courageous in making them public. I hope he is proud of himself!

I suggest that such an international, universal, transcreedal, transcultural, transracial standard for theology is the statement: “We Are All One. Ours is not a better way, ours is merely another way.”

This can be the gospel of a New Spirituality. It can be a kind of spirituality that gives people back to themselves.36

I do not believe it is just coincidence that Neale Donald Walsch—like Robert Schuller and Rick Warren—is also calling for a New Reformation. Nor do I believe it is a coincidence that Walsch and his “God” identify with Schuller and suggest Schuller’s New Reformation as a prototype for their PEACE Plan. Nor do I believe it is a coincidence that Warren has also used Schuller’s New Reformation as the prototype for his P.E.A.C.E. Plan and that both the New Age and Warren have devised 5-Step PEACE Plans to encourage their mutual calls for a New Reformation.
Other New Age leaders, like Bernie Siegel and Gerald Jampolsky also praise Robert Schuller and endorse his writings and teachings.37 Jampolsky and Schuller have mutually endorsed each other’s books.38 In his book Self-Esteem: The New Reformation, Schuller favorably cites Jampolsky and praises the New Age leader for his “profound theology.”39 Yet it is Jampolsky who first introduced me to the teachings of A Course in Miracles when I was in the New Age movement. I would later discover to my amazement that A Course in Miracle groups were meeting on the grounds of Schuller’s Crystal Cathedral back in 1985.40 I would also learn that Schuller has had an ongoing relationship with his “dear friend” Gerald Jampolsky from the early 1980s up through the present day.41 And it is not surprising that Bernie Siegel—the New Age leader Rick Warren cites in The Purpose Driven Life—had been a long-time member of the Board of Advisors for Jampolsky’s A Course in Miracles-based New Age Attitudinal Healing Centers.42

9) The Implications of Schuller’s Influence on Rick Warren
It became evident to me that Rick Warren was incorporating Robert Schuller’s plans and teachings into the Evangelical church. Whether it is “God’s Dream,” God “in” everything, the “New Reformation,” or something else, the non-referenced writings and teachings of Robert Schuller have been gradually introduced into the Evangelical church through Rick Warren. In Deceived on Purpose, I wrote:

[I]t seemed that one of Rick Warren’s unstated purposes was to mainstream Robert Schuller’s teachings into the more traditional “Bible-based” wing of the Church. Many believers who seem to trust Rick Warren, ironically, do not trust Robert Schuller. Rick Warren’s “magic” seems to be able to make the teachings of Robert Schuller palatable to believers who would have otherwise never accepted these same teachings had they come directly from Schuller himself.43

Recognizing the overwhelming influence that Robert Schuller has had on Rick Warren and thousands of other pastors, I explain in Deceived on Purpose that “The Purpose Driven Church campaign to enlist every man, woman and child into its ranks to ‘do’ the P.E.A.C.E. Plan and to ‘do’ God’s Dream did not have its origins at Saddleback Church or in the singly inspired mind of Rick Warren.”44 The spiritual foundation of the Purpose Driven movement can be found in the writings and teachings of Schuller’s fifty-year ministry. While Warren and other Christian leaders and organizations “forge new Purpose-Driven alliances around the world, the real architect of this seemingly unsinkable Purpose-Driven ship sits quietly in his office at the Crystal Cathedral.”45

I found it very ironic that while evangelical pastors were studying and speaking at Schuller’s Institute for Successful Church Leadership, A Course in Miracles groups were also meeting in Crystal Cathedral classrooms. Apparently, these pastors “thought that Schuller knew what he was doing because he had a big ‘successful’ church, and they wanted one, too.”46

10) A Serious Concern—A Sober Warning
I concluded Deceived on Purpose by stressing that it is not too late for Rick Warren to recognize how he has been influenced by Robert Schuller and by New Age teachings that are taking the church into the New Spirituality. I wrote:

He [Warren] could open many people’s eyes if he started to expose the differences between biblical Christianity and the deceptive teachings of the New Age and its New Spirituality.47

However, I presented a sober warning regarding Rick Warren and other Christian leaders who remain in denial about the very real threat of this pervasive spiritual deception that will seriously endanger many who are trusting in their judgment. I explained:

Sadly, if Rick Warren and other Christian leaders fall for New Age schemes and devices rather than exposing them, they will take countless numbers of sincere people down with them. It will be the blind leading the blind, as they fall further and further into the deceptive ditch of the New Age and its New Spirituality. Undiscerning Christians, who think they are on “the narrow way” preparing the way for Jesus Christ, may discover too late that they had actually been on “the broad way” preparing the way for Antichrist. It is not too late to warn everyone, but it must be done soon before the deception advances any further.48

It’s Not About Rick Warren
When Deceived on Purpose was published in August 2004, I knew the book would be controversial. The New Age implications I had discussed—particularly in regard to Robert Schuller’s influence on Rick Warren—had not to my knowledge been raised before. As I stated in Deceived on Purpose, my concerns were not personal issues (Matthew 18) between Rick Warren and myself. Because Warren’s book was in the public arena and had been sold and distributed to millions of people, I was approaching Warren and his readers in that same public arena. I wrote my comments respectfully and backed them with Scripture and primary source material. In his previous book The Purpose Driven Church, Warren had written, “I try to learn from critics.”49 Therefore, I hoped he would seriously consider the New Age implications I had brought out regarding his Purpose Driven movement. Would he begin to see what the New Age was really doing? Would he make some adjustments in the way he was presenting things? Would he recognize the necessity to protect the church from the New Age/New Spirituality?

Ultimately, Deceived on Purpose wasn’t about Rick Warren. It was about the schemes of our spiritual adversary—an adversary that the Bible refers to as Satan and “the god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4). It was about how this adversary uses undiscerning church leaders like Robert Schuller, Rick Warren, and others to further his cunningly devised New Age/New Spirituality. But would Warren and his Saddleback staff recognize how they were being used? And what would be their response—if any—to my book? After Deceived on Purpose was released, it didn’t take long to get my answers.

(This is chapter 1 of A “Wonderful” Deception. For preface, introduction, chapter 1 and endnotes in a printable format, click here.

Related Information:

More on the Purpose Driven Paradigm and Rick Warren’s “New Reformation“

Other chapters online from A “Wonderful” Deception

By DEEPA BHARATH and ERIKA I. RITCHIE
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Saddleback Church is in talks with the Crystal Cathedral to buy a 20-acre property where the cathedral has operated a retreat for more than 25 years.

Saddleback Church, headed by Pastor Rick Warren, has been one of several parties interested in purchasing the Rancho Capistrano property nestled in the hills adjacent to the 5 Freeway in San Juan Capistrano, said John Charles, spokesman for the Crystal Cathedral.

“They have shown interest in it ever since that property went up for sale, which was two years ago,” Charles said. “But I don’t know if they have put in an offer or have even toured the property.”

Saddleback Church officials say they have been in discussions for 18 months. However, there is no news to report, said spokesman David Chrzan.

“No agreement has been reached or finalized,” he said.

Crystal Cathedral administrators announced earlier this month that they have started shutting down all operations at their 20-acre campus in Rancho Capistrano, closing a church, preschool, retreat area, soccer fields, camping grounds and a conference and wedding center. The megachurch’s continuing financial woes have led to the sale of various properties, employee layoffs and suspension of its “Glory of Easter” pageant this year.  Click here to continue reading.