Rick Warren, founder of the Southern Baptist-aligned Saddleback Church in southern California, preached his final sermon as pastor on Aug. 28, 2022. The new pastor is Andy Wood. Warren’s influence is vast, reaching into every sphere of Christianity, from Catholicism to Mormonism, from liberal Protestantism to evangelicalism and Baptists. Bruce Ryskamp, president of Zondervan, said, “The Purpose Driven Life is more than a bestseller; it’s become a movement.” Rick Warren has been called “America’s pastor,” and it is for good reason. He is so shallow in his teaching, so positive in his approach, so slighting of repentance, so neglecting of unpopular doctrines such as judgment and hell, so tolerant of heresies, so enthusiastic of rock music, so soft-spoken on that nasty subject of worldliness, that apostate America can’t help but love him. Warren’s gospel is incredibly superficial: “If you are not sure you have done this, all you need to do is receive and believe. Wherever you are reading this, I invite you to bow your head and quietly whisper the prayer that will change your eternity. ‘Jesus, I believe in you and I receive you.’ Go ahead. If you sincerely meant that prayer, congratulations! Welcome to the family of God!” (The Purpose Driven Life, pp. 58, 59). There is nothing in Warren’s gospel about God’s holiness and justice, no dealing with sin, nothing about Christ’s blood, no repentance. Just “believe on Jesus.” What Jesus? The apostle Paul warned about false christs, but Rick Warren doesn’t. Warren has done as much as any man alive to build the apostate “one world church.” He has done this by promoting Contemporary Christian Music, which is a bridge to apostasy. He has done this by his “judge not” philosophy, by his radical ecumenical activities, by his teaching that God is unconcerned about doctrine, by his constant promotion of heretics, particularly Roman Catholic authors, and by his promotion of a multiplicity of corrupt Bible versions, which has destroyed the authority of the Bible as “thus saith the Lord.” For documentation of these things, see Purpose Driven or Scripture Driven?, available as a free eBook. https://www.wayoflife.org/free_ebooks/
(Friday Church News Notes, September 23, 2022, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)
