Purpose

"God made you for a purpose” is the well-known saying and focus of Rick Warren, Pastor of Saddleback Church in California. This cliché (or slogan) is used so often by Warren in his presentations to the public that it almost singularly identifies him, his sermons, and his books.

Rick Warren describes himself as a doctor, pastor, author, global strategist, theologian and philanthropist, and he has flooded the market with his many books. Some of his titles are: The Purpose Driven Church: Growing Without Compromise, (1995) The Purpose Driven Life; What on Earth am I Here For? (2002) God’s Power to Change Your Life (2006) and The Purpose of Christmas. (2008) He is also the driving force behind the Christian Recovery classes called Celebrate Recovery, and has written much of their material. Additionally he has co-authored or fully endorsed books like, Living the Life You Were Meant to Live ( 2003, with Tom Paterson) The Emerging Church;Vintage Christiantiy for New Genrations ( 2003, with Dan Kimball, Brian McLauren and Howard Hendricks) Life 2.0: How People Across America are Transforming their Lives by Finding the Where of Their Happiness ( 2005, with Rich Karlgaard) to name a few. In 2005, Warren even began writing a monthly article for the nationally syndicated, Ladies Home Journal magazine, perhaps to help women find purpose and meaning in their lives.

Warren posted an Internet website in 2001 called, Ministry Toolbox, which he has used to disseminate his teachings and his quotations, which he calls Saddle back sayings, to pastors all over the world. With the click of your computer mouse, you can read what he thinks and learn from him.  To further help get his message out, he sells the audio recordings of his sermons from Saddleback, books, along with journals and workbooks to go with his books, placards and calendars, magazine subscriptions and he will even twitter your cell phone if you'd like to inspire you every day. Rick Warren has deliberately placed himself in a position to teach not only the world but pastors of every and any denomination who will listen to him..

Warren is not shy about telling readers that he is "America’s pastor".  His website boasts about the what the media has to say about him and he makes sure it's the biggest wealthiest names in media behind his own.  We read that Forbes Magazine says, “Were it a business, Saddleback Church would be compared with Dell, Google or Starbucks;” We read that TIME Magazine says, “Movie stars and political leaders aren't the only ones turning to Rick Warren for spiritual guidance. Millions of people – from NFL and LPGA players to corporate executives to high school students to prison inmates – meet regularly to discuss The Purpose Driven Life.” He also quotes USA Today, Wall Street Journal, New Yorker, Boston Globe, Washington Post and the New York Times calling him, “America's most influential spiritual leader" and “ America’s Pastor.”  Warren is pretty convinced that everyone, who is anyone, endorses his teaching.

Maybe they do.

The media glamorized man wears a Hawaiian shirt which has almost become Warren's signature, so much so, that he once joked about the addition of a Hawaiian shirt into every box for pastors receiving what Warren called “church in a box.”  Church in a box was a serious idea he had to send essentials to pastors working in the field. It would be a box of all the things they would need to help them start his brand of “purpose driven” churches. He was joking about the shirt, perhaps, but Warren is definitely known for his love of Hawaiian shirts and he wasn’t kidding about the "church in a box" idea.

But as one listens to Warren’s ideas of church, it seems the focus of his preaching is to criticize and find fault with Christians and with the Christian church. He repetitively rants, in his writings as well as from the pulpit, about how badly “Christians” behave, and about how unhealthy “Christian” pastors and churches are.

You will hear him saying things like, “It's unfortunate, but “many churches” assume that spiritual maturity happens automatically, so they have no real plan for helping their members grow in Christ. That’s why I encourage churches to be purpose driven;” (Pastors.com Article: Helping Members Grow To Maturity by Rick Warren.) He likes to say, “’Most Christians’ do not behave the way they claim to believe,” and “The ‘typical believer’ never shares his faith, never helps the poor, never visits those in prison, and never does many of the other things Jesus commanded us to do.” (A Purpose Driven Phenomena Interview with Rick Warren in Modern Reformation magazine.). By using such language he degrades Christians while he himself is  above average and never part of the "many" or the "typical" he finds fault with. He even likes to point out how he is not like all the rest.

Warren accuses Christians of being incompetent. He insists that they are ill prepared, too caught up in doctrine and figuring out prophecy.  Unlike the usual pastor who preaches against sin, Warren preaches against the church, calling those who are called by His name, hypocritical liars and typifies the average Christians as unhelpful and uncaring. Using the language he does, he hopes that those who think they are better than the ones he finds fault with will flock to him for wisdom, and they do.   It’s uncommon to find a Christian pastor who so frequently berates the Christian church.

Pastors are to preach the word, in season and out of season, to feed the flock, and strive to unite the sheep in spirit as they grow into what Jude calls the “most holy faith.” (Jude 1:20) Like a good shepherd, a pastor is to nourish and cherish (that is, tenderly look after) the church for it is the Bride of Christ and Jesus left his sheep in their care. Instead Warren ‘s words fall like bombshells, continually bombarding Christian congregations with the notion that their pastor is not to be trusted, and niether is the church at large.  Warren suggests they are unhealthy.  The cure, the way, the path to Warren’s definition of “health” is not Jesus and Bible studies. Health comes from listening to Warren and becoming "purpose driven."

Warren says things to make your ears twitch if you know the scriptures.  He says, “If you want Jesus to come back sooner focus on fulfilling your mission, not figuring out prophecy” (Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren pg. 286) This stands starkly contrasted to Rev 22:7 Rev. 1:3; 2 Peter 1:21; 1 Tim 4:14; and 1 Thess. 5:20, scriptures that counsel Christians to understand prophecy.

Warren's 40 Days of Purpose Day 13 teaches, “There is no "one-size-fits-all" approach to worship and friendship with God." (See also: Purpose Driven Life: Worship That Pleases God by Rick Warren., MT #71) In contrast, John 14:6 declares emphatically that there is only One Way for everyone and that His name is Jesus.  And maybe you will agree with Rick when he quotes the Bible, saying, "True worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and  in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers that the Father seeks.”then he adds, " Worship in truth means to worship as God is revealed in the Bible."  Believers cannot help but note, Warren fails to mention that God is Jesus.

Then he tells his listeners,  "Most pastors do not understand the power of preaching. But even more important than that is they don't understand the purpose of preaching. I probably have the largest library of books on preaching in America. I've read over 500 books on preaching. Maybe some seminary might come close to that, but I am sure that no pastor comes close to 500 books on preaching. And as I've read them, the vast majority do not really understand that preaching is about transformation, not information."(Rick Warren, "Purpose-Driven Preaching: an interview with Rick Warren," Pastors.com,  MT #62)

 But truth is, it is not "what" you know, but "who" and more importantly, "who knows you."  Read in Matthew 7: 21... "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven."  There is only one person, who ever did perfectly, God's will: Jesus.

On Sunday Nov. 2, 2003, something interesting happened.  Rick Warren revealed what he calls his Peace Plan to the world. It is his plan, he says, to eradicate from the world what he called the five evil giants... 1.) spiritual lostness, 2.) uneducated pastors,  3.) poverty, 4.) disease, and 5.) illiteracy.  According to Warren, THESE are the most devastating problems in the world, responsible for the suffering of billions and a staggering amount of oppression.

(Spiritual lostness?..What is THAT?....Pastors, who are "uneducated?".(suddenly called one of the world's great evils?) How about poverty?.....(These are the greatest evils in the world today?... One would think, "murder" was evil... or maybe "greed," not things out of human control, like being born without money in your pocket, or having some "disease.") What IS this man, Rick Warren,  thinking?

During the same service, Rick made confession to his congregation that he had been wrong about something for twenty five years.  He told the watching world and the people in front of him that day that he “used to believe the greatest thing a person could do in their life was to lead another person to Jesus Christ,” but that he “didn’t believe that any more.” Then apologetically making reference to how, even as a pastor, he had taught and believed that very thing for 25 years, he added, I “now believe that the greatest thing a person can do, is build a church.”

The observant listener can only guess what "kind of " church "that" would be.  The believer in Jesus, marvels and wonders, "if not built upon Jesus,  then  what would that church's foundation be?" 


Rick never tires of sharing his message either,  In February,  2006, he even had the opportunity to talk about God before a group called TED. (Technology, Entertainment, Design... a  "small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading.")  He told his audience, “Did you know that God smiles when you be you. Some people have the misguided idea that God only gets excited when you're doing “spiritual things” like going to church or helping the poor or confessing or doing something like that. The bottom line is that God gets pleasure watching you be you. Why? He made you..."


One thing for certain, as you listen to him speak, is that his message to the listening world, the "good news",  according to Rick... is two fold; First, "God loves you;"  and second, he "created you for a purpose.

Rick has a lot of Bible sounding words to say, but he never ties the knot of that they mean when you put them all together...Jesus Christ as the savior of the world.    He never takes the time to make a red-ribboned bow and present the real gift of God to man in it's plain and simple meaning...  Jesus Christ given for the forgiveness of the sin of sinners.   God loves.. he love loves the world... (John 3:16)  and gave his only begotten Son on so that all who believe on him would be saved.

Yes, one must believe on Jesus Christ... ( not that their life has purpose,) to be saved.
He is the way the truth and the life... and no one comes to the Father but by Him (John 14:6)



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