"You
should also require those joining to attend a new members class,
he said. 'A strong membership class will produce a strong church.'
At Saddleback Church, the required membership class teaches basic
doctrine on subjects such as salvation, the foundation of the
church's belief statements, the purpose-driven strategy of the
church, and the congregation's structure. In addition, Saddleback
requires new members to sign a membership covenant. 'When your
church adopts a membership covenant, you are choosing who stays!'
said Warren." From
pastors.com, Believe, belong and become.
"Personal
computers have brand names. But inside every pc is an Intel chip
and an operating system, Windows," Warren says. "The Purpose Driven
paradigm is the Intel chip for the 21st-century church and the
Windows system of the 21st-century church."—Rick
Warren, Christianity Today, Oct. 2005
"Since
we are to work with "the man of peace" in each village, I came
up with a P.E.A.C.E. Plan that our members at Saddleback could
get a hold of."—Rick
Warren
"I
believe that we are possibly on the verge of a New Reformation
in Christianity and another Great Awakening in our nation," said
Warren. "The signs are everywhere, including the popularity of
this book." —Rick Warren,
The
Serious Problems with
Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Movement
FIND OUT
WHAT THE NEWS MEDIA DIDN'T TELL YOU ...
A "WONDERFUL" DECEPTION
By Warren Smith
(author of Deceived on Purpose: The New Age Implications of the Purpose Driven Church)
Click here for blog news and articles on the Purpose Driven Movement.
The Spiritual Direction of Rick Warren
As Rick Warren moves ahead toward his global peace agenda, working with virtually anyone or any group who rallies behind him, he has moved to the forefront of evangelical leaders who are propagating the contemplative prayer movement (i.e., spiritual formation). In essence, he has become an evangelist for contemplative spirituality. For those who realize that contemplative (that is mystical meditation) is the driving force behind the kingdom-now, heaven-on-earth emerging church movement, this is an alarming deduction. - Rick Warren Plays "Catch Me if You Can" While Promoting Mysticism
1.
Rick Warren encourages the use of breath
prayers. (pp. 89, 299 PDL) and on pastors.com
2.
Pastors.com recommends several contemplatives: Brennan
Manning, Henri Nouwen, Richard Foster, Thomas Merton,
Jan Johnson and many more.
3. Kay Warren recommends Henri Nouwen's book,In the Name of Jesusand says this about
Nouwen's book, "[I]t hits at the heart of the minister....
I highlighted almost every word!"
New Age sympathizer Leonard Sweet, who will be training church leaders and pastors at the 2008 Saddleback Small Groups Conference in April, is accepted by Rick Warren as a trustworthy source of Christian leadership. However, Sweet's view of the value of small groups lines up more with the New Age and Alice Bailey than it does with biblical Christianity. In his book, Quantum Spirituality, Sweet states:
The power of small groups is in their ability to develop the discipline to get people "in-phase" with the Christ consciousness and connected with one another. Read more.
****************
"Rick
Warren and others say we need to pay attention to the emerging
church. Things are changing, they say and the "emerging
church" has the answers for our generation. But what
will the emerging church emerge into? Could it be a form
of Christianity that embraces experience rather than God's
Word?"—Roger Oakland, Understand the Times. Read Entire Article
On Poor Bible Translations:
Rick
Warren's use of the paraphrase, The Message, for much of his writings.
We bring this to your attention because we believe
too many people are using The Message as a literal
translation, which it is not.
On Theology:
"Warren
teaches that God 'created the church to meet your five
deepest needs' just as the Roman Catholic Church says,
'The Church is the mother of all believers.' Warren, like
Rome, has switched from obedience to the Word and Person
of the Living God to submission to a church to
achieve one's needs. It is the oldest and cleverest temptation
known to man."—Richard Bennett, The
Adulation of Man in the Purpose-Driven Life
"The
Purpose Driven Life maintains
and promotes a poor theology stemming from an inadequate bibliology. Verses are used out of context ..." Read
more — Tim Todd
*
* * *
"The
video on exponential growth, presented by Warren, is one
of the most shocking teachings I have ever seen emerge" ...Read on
Contemplative Spirituality: A belief system that
uses ancient mystical practices to induce altered states of consciousness
(the silence) and is rooted in mysticism and the occult but often wrapped
in Christian terminology. The premise of contemplative spirituality
is pantheistic (God is all) and panentheistic (God is in all). Common
terms used for this movement are "spiritual formation," "the
silence," "the stillness," "ancient-wisdom,"
"spiritual disciplines," and many others.
"Nor
is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name [Jesus
Christ] under heaven
given among men by which we must be saved." Acts 4: 12
