In this week’s e-newsletter by Rick Warren, he has written an article titled “What the Bible says about handling disunity.” While erroneously stating that the Bible talks more about unity of the church than about Heaven or Hell, Warren says that those who oppose pastors must be dealt with, and if after two warnings, must be told to leave the church. This certainly is consistent with other statements Warren and his associate pastors have made. For instance, in the Saddleback book Transitioning by Purpose Driven pastor Don Southerland, Southerland states that those who oppose the Purpose Driven paradigm are like “leader[s] from hell” (pp. 115-116).
In the article, Warren also has taken Titus 3:10 out of context. He states:
Titus 3:10-11 says, “Warn a divisive person once, and then warn him a second time. After that, have nothing to do with him. You may be sure that such a man is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.” No pastor wants to do this, but at last resort you may need to remove the contentious person from the church. You’ve got to protect the unity of your church. If that means getting rid of troublemakers, do it.
But a careful examination of Titus 3:10 explains that those who should be rebuked are those who are causing division through FALSE TEACHINGS (heresies): “A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject (KJV, Titus 3:10). The greek word for heretick is hairetikos, which means a follower of a false doctrine or a heretic.
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