Thursday, December 18, 2008

Rick Warren's "Sleight of Tongue"

Slice has an article on Rick Warren's Hegelian dialectic method, which is part and parcel to Marxism. In essence, its the idea that through opposing views, there emerges unity:

As Ingrid notes, "It’s called the Law of the Unity and Struggle of Opposites. I quote: Between the opposites in a contradiction there is at once unity and struggle, and it is this that impels things to move and change.” –Chairman Mao Tse -tung "

So while Ricky Warren claims to be pro-life and such, he's holding hands with those who are actively against pro-life; ie, giving a prayer at Obama's inaugaration (however, he is not against homosexual rights).

I bring this up because this is what I noticed Cedarville University doing. They distance themselves from "liberal theology, the social gospel" yet they bring in liberal Emergents.

There's another word for all this: hypocrisy.

I was chastised by a pastor and seminary graduate for calling Rick Warren a false teacher and motivated by money; they said their only disagreement was with his methodology. While the seminary graduate, who just got a job up North, has seen some serious problems now with Warren, he never did come back to me to apologize. And the pastor? Haven't heard a peep.

Ingrid hits it on the head when she says:

For years, he has been exposed for promoting exactly that—helping people externally minus the exclusive Gospel of Jesus Christ. Yet here we have the man who has done more to further the social gospel than any other, actually decrying the “social gospel.” Why does he do this? It’s the sleight of tongue that causes his followers to relax, to believe that after all, “Rick Warren would not mislead us! Look! He sees the social gospel for what it is! We’re all against Marxism, right? Warren is different. His message is not the social gospel! He even said so in the media!”


Warren is nothing but a huckster, a wolf in sheep's clothing. He mimics Christianese, yet holds to a false gospel, promotes himself (yes, that's his newest book he's holding, reading out of), his works, and his church's works (every time...EVERY TIME the man is interviewed, he boasts about this). He hates the sovereignty of God ("hurricanes aren't God's will ... HIS will is not done most of the time on earth"). He is nothing but a prideful, coniving man, and God will deal with him harshly for mudding HIS name and HIS Word.

**The interview transcript can be read here ***
**The full video interview here **
**Caution** Beliefnet is an inter-faith, anti-biblical website, promoting itself as "Christian"

3 comments:

pastorharold said...

Good post Denise. We do see each other at Little Leaven some times, and usually from the same side of the fence.
This is so true and so sad. I talk to people all the time who say "So your a pastor, I just read Rick Warren's book Blah Bla Blah. It was great!" And I just sit there and think man, one more gone.
I can't (in the span of two minutes) show them all the false statments he makes. So I usally listen on only to find out there pastor told them to read it. Well, there went the hope of their pastor warning them.
I am a 33 yrs old and the next 33 yrs of my ministry sure look challenging (if I live that long). We who clearly see this kind of stuff need to remain faithful, regaurdless of what the world does.

Denise said...

Thanks for coming by.

Its disheartening to watch the ship sink. Sadly, those of us who warn people are taken to task for being judgmental and hyper-critical and angry.

Prodigal Knot said...

Denise,
I listened to the entire Warren interview and I agree with almost everything he said! Divorce is a sin God hates as much as any. There is a definite commandment to not divorce! So, yes, I would agree that divorce is the biggest danger to the preservation of God centered marriage.

As for gay rights, Warren (whom I disagree with in most areas) does not espouse gay marriage. He stressed that everyone should have equal rights as human-beings regardless of their sexual, racial, or religious beliefs. I agree. Warren also made a pretty good defense of marriage vbeing an institution of 5,000 years cross-cultural practice that should not be changed and has always defined marriage as a union of one woman and one man.

I think you are allowing your prejudice against Warren to color your judgment here. Yes, he is a wolf, but he isn't always wrong either.