Woe unto them that call evil good and good evil;
that put darkness for light, and light for darkness;
that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
This morning, after grabbing my cup of coffee, I opened up my laptop and found I had left the Fox News website up. I had been keeping tabs on what was going on in Syria. One of the headlines that immediately caught my eye was one about Rick Warren, the leader of the 20,000 + member mega church, Saddleback Church in California and author of the books, "The Purpose Driven Life" and "The Purpose Driven Church", both of which I do not recommend reading.
Rick Warren has been called America's pastor. Not that it really matters, but I have a real problem with that. I'm just as American as the next person. But in my opinion, Rick Warren does not fit the biblical definition of a pastor. Pastors are to speak the truth to a lost and dying world. Rick Warren compromises the truth. In "The Purpose Driven Church", Warren pushes numbers/members, not necessarily the salvation experience. He recommends removing things like crosses, old time hymns and even church members who don't go along with the purpose driven church plan. The evangelical church today should be embracing the cross, the old time hymns and the saints who believe the gospel. If it weren't for the cross of Christ, I wouldn't be on my way to heaven today. I love modern praise and worship. But it's the old time hymns that truly make my heart sing out to the Lord. And it's the saints that hold on to the true gospel, who pave the way and pray for the rest of us. Warren also is a proponent the "Chrislam" movement. He encourages it and has been a guest speaker to push that agenda to the sheeple.
So what headline was it that I felt it was important enough to blog about today? Fox News, the Christian Post, the Christian News Network and other news sources posted the headline that Rick Warren regretted making a video (supposedly only for Saddleback church's eyes) in 2008 saying that he was supporting Proposition 8 and biblical marriage... marriage between a man and a woman. He regrets taking a stand for what the bible says about marriage being between a man and a woman? Really? You regret taking a stand with the Creator of both man and woman? Are you kidding me?
This post to my blog today isn't about my stance on homosexuality and gay marriage. Anyone who knows me knows that I believe both homosexuality and gay marriage is wrong. It's not biblical and its a sin. But, just because it's wrong and a sin, it doesn't mean that we don't care about the person who lives that kind of life style. As Jesus taught, we are to love the sinner and hate the sin. All of us, and I do mean all of us, sin. Sin is sin. And we need to reach out to the gay community in the same way that someone reached out to each one of us. But I digress, that isn't my issue or the subject of my post today. My issue is with Rick Warren. God has given Rick Warren an amazing opportunity to reach out to people in the same way that Billy Graham did. He could reach out to millions with the pure gospel of Jesus Christ. Instead of preaching "Chrislam", Rick Warren could be preaching Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Why not take the opportunity that the Lord has given to him and give the homosexual community the chance to be set free? Luke 4:18-19 ~ "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord."
Rick Warren is not doing those things. He is not only leading those who are in his church astray, but every person who picks up one of his books or hears him speak are getting a perverted gospel preached to them. To an extent, we ourselves are responsible to be Bereans and search the scriptures, and, if we find ourselves in a church that doesn't preach the gospel, then get out of it. But those who have been called to be pastors have a responsibility to shepherd their flocks. And anyone who follows Rick Warren's teaching, and agrees, are part of his flock. Instead of bringing sheep into the sheepfold, he's leading them astray. He's giving voice to a movement that is aggressive and shakes it's finger in the face of a loving God. Warren is, in essence, telling them, it's OK to sin. It's never OK to sin, and those of us who call Jesus Lord, struggle with sin continually. As I tell my own family time after time, I'm not perfect, just forgiven. But instead of teaching his flock how to reach for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, he is telling them that it's OK to compromise.
As Rick Warren continues to pollute the gospel of Christ, prayer should be going up to the throne room for him, so that his heart and his eyes would be enlightened once again. God still loves Rick Warren just as much as He ever did. But Rick Warren knows the truth and is choosing to ignore it. I don't pretend to know why unless part of the reason is pride. But someone else who God gave an awesome responsibility and opportunity to, fell because of pride and led many millions astray. Seems to me he would be an example that Rick Warren wouldn't want to follow.
So what headline was it that I felt it was important enough to blog about today? Fox News, the Christian Post, the Christian News Network and other news sources posted the headline that Rick Warren regretted making a video (supposedly only for Saddleback church's eyes) in 2008 saying that he was supporting Proposition 8 and biblical marriage... marriage between a man and a woman. He regrets taking a stand for what the bible says about marriage being between a man and a woman? Really? You regret taking a stand with the Creator of both man and woman? Are you kidding me?
This post to my blog today isn't about my stance on homosexuality and gay marriage. Anyone who knows me knows that I believe both homosexuality and gay marriage is wrong. It's not biblical and its a sin. But, just because it's wrong and a sin, it doesn't mean that we don't care about the person who lives that kind of life style. As Jesus taught, we are to love the sinner and hate the sin. All of us, and I do mean all of us, sin. Sin is sin. And we need to reach out to the gay community in the same way that someone reached out to each one of us. But I digress, that isn't my issue or the subject of my post today. My issue is with Rick Warren. God has given Rick Warren an amazing opportunity to reach out to people in the same way that Billy Graham did. He could reach out to millions with the pure gospel of Jesus Christ. Instead of preaching "Chrislam", Rick Warren could be preaching Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Why not take the opportunity that the Lord has given to him and give the homosexual community the chance to be set free? Luke 4:18-19 ~ "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord."
Rick Warren is not doing those things. He is not only leading those who are in his church astray, but every person who picks up one of his books or hears him speak are getting a perverted gospel preached to them. To an extent, we ourselves are responsible to be Bereans and search the scriptures, and, if we find ourselves in a church that doesn't preach the gospel, then get out of it. But those who have been called to be pastors have a responsibility to shepherd their flocks. And anyone who follows Rick Warren's teaching, and agrees, are part of his flock. Instead of bringing sheep into the sheepfold, he's leading them astray. He's giving voice to a movement that is aggressive and shakes it's finger in the face of a loving God. Warren is, in essence, telling them, it's OK to sin. It's never OK to sin, and those of us who call Jesus Lord, struggle with sin continually. As I tell my own family time after time, I'm not perfect, just forgiven. But instead of teaching his flock how to reach for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, he is telling them that it's OK to compromise.
As Rick Warren continues to pollute the gospel of Christ, prayer should be going up to the throne room for him, so that his heart and his eyes would be enlightened once again. God still loves Rick Warren just as much as He ever did. But Rick Warren knows the truth and is choosing to ignore it. I don't pretend to know why unless part of the reason is pride. But someone else who God gave an awesome responsibility and opportunity to, fell because of pride and led many millions astray. Seems to me he would be an example that Rick Warren wouldn't want to follow.
Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an
hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not
minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you,
inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And
these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous unto life eternal.
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In the next couple of days A Watchman's Words will be moving to a domain of it's own instead of using blogger. I'm grateful to the Lord and humbled that He would give me this opportunity and this ministry. I do ask for your prayers as we make the move and also in the days to come that I would hear God's voice and speak the words that He would have me to speak. The new domain will be www.awatchmanswords.com.
Until next time!
~Nancy
~Nancy
