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Cecil Andrews, 29 Edengrove Park, Ballynahinch, BT24 8AZ, Northern Ireland Telephone/Fax 028 9756 5511. E-MAIL - takeheed@aol.com WEBSITE - http://www.takeheed.net Quick Links - Home - Assorted Articles - Audio/Video - Ministry Newsletters - Words of Wisdom |
Since linking with Tony Blair it appears that Rick Warren
is “waxing (becoming) worse and worse”
(2nd Timothy 3:13)
The opening verse of chapter 3 of Paul’s second letter to Timothy reads
– “this know that in the last days perilous times shall come”. Paul
states quite clearly that during “the last days” all will not be well in
the professing church. ‘The last days’ are generally accepted by
biblical scholars as being ‘the church age’ – that time span between the
ascension of Christ as recorded in Acts 1:9 and His return as detailed in 1st
Thessalonians 4:16-18. The word “perilous” means ‘grievous’
as in the sense of ‘hard to deal with’ and ‘hard to bear’.
Paul is warning God’s people that during the church age they should expect to
be confronted with things being said and done in the name of Christ that will
grieve them fiercely and intensely because such happenings will disturb the
Spirit of God who indwells them as His true people.
From the second verse on Paul outlines some of those who will be the
sources of such “perilous [grievous] times” – “For men shall be lovers of their own selves,
covetous… traitors (v 4) … Having a form of godliness (v 5) … Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the
truth, men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the truth (v 8) … evil men and seducers shall wax [become] worse and
worse, deceiving and being deceived (v 13)”.
Paul predicts that God’s people will be confronted with such men who
will be moving in professing Christian circles and claiming to be Christian. Dr
H A Ironside wrote in a commentary on this passage – ‘In 2nd Timothy 3 the
Holy Spirit is describing conditions in the professing church in the
last days! It is not the openly wicked and godless who are being depicted here.
It is those who have a form of godliness, while denying its power. [Cecil: From Romans 1:16 we learn that the unique
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is the ONLY POWER unto salvation and true
godliness and by their words and actions these people fail to proclaim and protect
this gospel truth] This is what
makes the passage so intensely solemn and gives it such tremendous weight in
the present day’. The ‘present day’ that Dr Ironside was
referring to was back in 1947 and his observations still hold equal weight in
the days that you and I now live in.
Verse 2 speaks of men who will be puffed up with their own
self-importance and who will have somewhat of an obsession with money.
Verse 4 speaks of men who, whilst claiming to be followers of Christ,
will likewise betray truth just as Judas Iscariot is described in Luke 6:16 as
the one who betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ who referred to Himself in John 14:6
as “the truth”.
Verse 5 identifies those who have an outward profession of Christian
faith but who do not evidence much if any inward saving work
of Holy Spirit regeneration. Donald Guthrie in his commentary expresses it
rather well when he writes ‘Religion is not entirely
denied, but it amounts to no more than an empty shell. There is an outward form
of godliness but no power… They have no conception of the gospel as
a regenerating force’.
Verse 8 likens these predicted false ‘Christian’ leaders to the
magicians in Pharaoh’s court who resisted God’s then appointed prophet, Moses.
William Hendriksen in his commentary wrote ‘Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed
God’s representative, Moses, so do also these licentious leaders oppose the
truth of God as revealed in his Word and as proclaimed by Paul, Timothy etc…
Jannes and Jambres were deceivers; so are the purveyors of strange doctrine
against whom Paul warns Timothy’. These modern-day ‘magicians’ resist God’s
truth that has been revealed by His ultimate promised prophet, the one that
Moses wrote of in Deuteronomy 18:15 – that ultimate promised prophet was of
course none other than the Lord Jesus Christ as we read in John 1:45 and John
6:13-14.
God’s people today need to face up to the fact that God identifies these
false ‘Christian’ leaders as being “men of corrupt minds” and “reprobate
concerning the truth”. Donald Guthrie wrote ‘It is no surprise that they
are described as (reprobate) rejected (adokimos) for when put to the test as far as truth is
concerned they have no hope
of being proved acceptable’. Pastor John MacArthur in his bible study notes
comments ‘comes from a Greek word meaning “useless” in the sense of being
tested (like metal) and shown to be worthless’. William Hendriksen writes ‘these
men have been found worthy of emphatic disapproval; hence reprobate,
condemned as worthless, unfit, disqualified, utterly rejected’.
Verse 13 brings the description of these men to a climax with the words
that they are “evil men and seducers (who) shall wax [become] worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived”. Things that are “good” bring glory to God as we
read throughout Genesis 1 and supremely in verse 31. This is confirmed in Psalm
19:1. Faithful believers can also bring glory to God when they obediently do
that which in God’s sight is truly “good” as we learn in Matthew 5:16.
In contrast to “good” we can safely and simply deduce that “evil” refers
to words and actions that do not bring glory to God.
The particular danger is that these predicted false ‘Christian’ leaders
will have an ability to “seduce” (lead astray) the unwary,
unlearned or unsuspecting and sadly there are clearly many such within modern
day professing Christendom. The strength of just how misguided these men really
are is found in the alternative translation of the Greek word for “seducers”
which is “impostors” and the most distressing part of this portion
of scripture is the fact that they will ‘become worse and worse’ – they
will grow increasingly ‘evil’ and will successfully “deceive”
multitudes even as they themselves are “deceived”.
Mirroring the opposition to God’s truth that was mounted by Jannes and
Jambres I am firmly persuaded that Rick Warren, under the increasing influence
of his connection with Tony Blair, is manifesting the characteristics that Paul
pointed to in the portion of scripture that I have just directed your attention
to.
The Tony Blair connection was mentioned in my article ‘The political
pals of Rick Warren’ that can be viewed on http://www.takeheed.net/CurrentConcerns_2/WarrenPoliticalPals.htm In particular I want to draw attention to two
important subjects where both Rick Warren and Tony Blair are jointly in
tandem “deceiving and being deceived”.
One subject is the ‘gay’ issue and the other is the ‘Interfaith’ issue.
Let me turn first to the ‘gay’ issue. In November 2008 the voters of California were asked to vote either for or against what
was known as Proposition 8. The
wording of this Proposition 8 read as follows - "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or
recognized in California." According to the official figures as listed on http://www.whatisprop8.com/ 52.5%
of the population voted in support of this proposition and 47.5% voted against
it.
Where did Rick Warren stand on this issue? Well
it would apppear that his memory is playing tricks with him when it comes to
his recollection of what he said and recommended to his church. On this link http://christsimplicity.wordpress.com/
you can watch a short (2.15) video clip of Rick Warren talking in October 2008 about where he and also where the Presidential
candidates (Obama & McCain) stood on this issue of ‘gay’ marriage. This web link quotes the following from what Mr
Warren said on this occasion –
Now let me say this really clearly: we support
Proposition 8 —
and if you believe what the Bible says about marriage, you need to support
Proposition 8. … So I urge you to support Proposition 8, and pass that word on.
I’m going to be sending out a note to pastors on what I believe about this. But
everybody knows what I believe about it.
Another short video (6.34) on this same link also shows Rick Warren
speaking on 21st December 2008 about the issue of ‘gay’ marriage
and he clearly opposes the idea of those who want to enter into a same-sex
relationship being allowed to term their relationship as a marriage. Again the
web link quotes from what Mr Warren said
I oppose the redefinition of the meaning of
marriage. (at 3:45 and at the end of the video)
However, in an interview on 6th April 2009 on the Larry
King Live show Rick Warren claimed that he had never once given an endorsement
during the 2 years that Proposition 8 was on the go and he also claimed that he
was not an anti-gay marriage activist. This short video (2.42) can be viewed on
the same web link and again they quote portions of what Mr Warren said in the
interview –
I am not an anti-gay or anti-gay marriage activist. Never have been, never will be. During
the whole Proposition 8 thing, I never once went to a meeting, never
once issued a statement, never
once even gave an endorsement in the two years Prop 8 was going.
Another agency, OneNewNow, a division of The American Family
News Network also picked up on these confusing and contradictory statements
by Mr Warren in their report of 8th April 2009 as can be seen on
this link
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=481280
Referring to Rick Warren’s Larry King interview One NewsNow
stated how Mr Warren had said –
"During
the whole Proposition 8 thing, I never once went to a meeting, never once
issued a statement, never -- never once even gave an
endorsement in the two years Prop. 8 was going,"
Warren told the CNN audience on Monday. "The week before the -- the
vote, somebody in my church said, 'Pastor Rick, what -- what do you think about
this?' And I sent a note to my own members that said, I actually believe that
marriage is -- really should be defined, that that definition should be -- say
between a man and a woman."
The OneNewsNow report then continued –
However,
just two weeks before the November 4 Prop. 8 vote,
Pastor Warren issued a clear endorsement of the marriage amendment while speaking
to church members. "We support Proposition 8 -- and if you believe
what the Bible says about marriage, you need to support Proposition 8," he
said.
Clearly in the April 2009 Larry King interview Rick Warren was
trying, for whatever reasons, to portray himself in an entirely different light
from the picture that he had painted of himself and his views during the videos
of what he had said some months earlier in October 2008 and December
2008.
Just the day after Rick Warren made his statement on 21st
December 2008 a very interesting post appeared on this web link
http://www.americablog.com/2008/12/rick-warren-pulls-anti-gay-language.html
As you will see, this reported that Mr Warren had removed some material
from his church web site that stated quite openly (and correctly) that
unrepentant homosexuals could not be accepted into membership of the Saddleback
church. Could the fact that his selection by Barack Obama to pray at his
Presidential inauguration had stirred up a storm of opposition from ‘gay’ groupings
have had anything to do with his decision to remove this material from his
church web site? Only Rick Warren knows the answer to that but it could perhaps
be construed as an attempt to pour appeasing oil on waters that were
threatening to rock the Presidential inauguration boat.
Whether or not Barack Obama himself had any influence on Rick Warren’s
decision to remove this material from the Saddleback church web site I simply
do not know but I do know this, that at that time, Rick Warren was already a
‘signed up’ member of the Advisory Council of the Tony Blair Faith
Foundation.
It’s interesting to note that just 2 days after Rick Warren was appearing live on the Larry King show on 6th April 2009 [date verified via the video on this youtube link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHPIhI5WDM8] Tony Blair had an interview on things ‘gay’ published and the British Church newspaper [Issue 159: 24th April 2009] reported on this interview with Tony Blair as having been published ‘in Attitude which describes itself as Britain’s “best selling gay magazine”’.
The Belfast Telegraph of 8th April 2009 also referred to the interview published that very day under a heading of ‘Pope’s got it wrong about gays – Blair’ and part of that article read as follows –
‘The Pope and the Vatican have an “entrenched
attitude” towards homosexuality which is less tolerant than the views of
ordinary Catholics, Tony Blair says in comments published today. The former
Prime Minister, who converted to Catholicism shortly after leaving office two
years ago, said he disagreed with the Pope’s stance on gay rights and
controversially suggested that the Church should reform itself along similar
lines of how he re-organised the Labour Party. “Organised religions face the
same dilemma as political parties when faced with changed circumstances” he
said…. Last year Pope Benedict XVI caused widespread outrage in the gay
community when he compared toleration of gays to the destruction of the
rainforests and said that homosexuality is 2a more or less strong tendency
ordered towards an intrinsic moral evil”… Mr Blair, who runs his own religious
think-tank, made the comments in an interview with The Independent columnist
Johann Hari, who was writing for Attitude, Britain’s biggest-selling gay
magazine in its 15th anniversary edition. Asked whether he agreed
with the Pope’s latest remarks on homosexuality Mr Blair said he believed
ordinary Catholics did not feel the same way about homosexuality but the
Church’s leadership was afraid of making any major doctrinal concessions.
“There is a huge generational difference here,” he said.
Mr Blair has of course for a number of years now been
openly taking great ‘pride’ in voicing his support for all things ‘gay’. At
the end of 2005 and the beginning of 2006 I sent faxes to Mr Blair responding
to the ungodly legislation that he was helping to push through the Parliament
of the United Kingdom. In the couple of
years that have followed the sending of my faxes the United Kingdom has seen
some of the worst flooding for decades and of course the nation has plunged
into levels of debt never before envisaged of encountered. I certainly make no
claims for anything ‘prophetic’ in what I wrote – I simply quoted some portions
from God’s infallible Word that will eternally stand when the memory of Tony
Blair and those others who took ‘pride’ in such legislation is no more. Truly,
as God’s Word declares “Be not deceived, God is not mocked” [Galatians 6:7].
Mr Tony Blair
Fax:
020 7925 0918
24
December 2005
Dear Mr Blair
‘PRIDE’
I
saw on television earlier this week how, after extending good wishes to Elton
John and his ‘partner’, you said basically that you were ‘proud’ to have
introduced the ‘civil partnership’ legislation. There’s a very
interesting passage in the Bible namely Romans 1:18-32 and perhaps over
this holiday season you might take time to read it. It talks of ‘God’s wrath
being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men
who hold [suppress] the truth in unrighteousness’ – in other words
against men who really know what is right and what is wrong but who prefer to
tolerate and promote that which is wrong and not only that but as you will read
in verse 32 they ‘have pleasure in them that do them’ – they are ‘proud’
of the wickedness that people perpetrate because they have sanctioned it.
Hurricane Katrina flooded New Orleans just
days before the ‘Southern Decadence’ event was about to take place – a
gathering of 100,000+ ‘gays’ who on websites advertised tee-shirts encouraging
people to throw their bibles in the trash can.
Shortly after another hurricane washed out another ‘gay’ event planned
for Key West. The Sunday morning after your ‘civil partnership’
act became law there was the massive oil storage explosion – one TV commentator
described it as a vision of ‘Armageddon’ – a vision of ‘Sodom & Gomorrah’
would have been more apt.
On the spiritual front you promote Roman
Catholicism and Islam as ‘great’ religions – in reality they are the twin peaks
of enslaving totalitarianism and in contrast true Biblical Christians are
hounded and threatened by ‘politically correct’ police as happened this week in
the Fleetwood area if they dare to stand up publicly for God’s truth and
identify abominable unrighteousness. In short Mr Blair you are ‘presiding’ over
a Nation and a World that is feeling and will continue to feel the wrath of the
only true God until His beloved Son returns to judge all people – and that
includes you and you will personally give an account to Jesus Christ for your ‘pride’
in sanctioning that which in His eyes is an abomination.
The message of Jesus Christ to you Mr Blair is
found in Mark 1:15 – “Repent and believe the gospel’. There are at
Westminster members of parliament from where I live who know the Gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ - I would suggest you seek them out for spiritual guidance
and don’t let your ‘pride’ stand in your way for it will take you
straight to hell.
Yours,
a debtor to the forgiving mercy of Jesus Christ
Cecil Andrews
Northern
Ireland
“Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a
reproach to any people”
Proverbs 14:34
Mr Tony Blair
Fax:
020 7925 0918
2 January 2006
Dear
Mr Blair,
Hard on the heels of your God dishonouring ‘civil
partnership’ legislation your government has plumbed new depths by
enacting a law that will permit vulnerable children to be ‘adopted’ by
same-sex ‘parents’. God’s Word to children is “ Children obey
your parents in the Lord for this is right: Honour thy FATHER and thy MOTHER”
[Ephesians 6:1-2] – God’s definition of ‘parents’ is
plain and no earthly law or human ‘pride’ can ‘sanitise’ what is an abomination
in the nostrils of Almighty God.
According
to one newspaper report that I read your new year message was to the effect
that UK citizens ‘should be grateful to live under a Labour government’ and
remember that we live in ‘one of the most successful countries in the world’.
The Holy God of Heaven whose standards you have trampled underfoot would
not share your view of ‘success’. To a
group of people who considered themselves to be similarly ‘successful’
by your definition of the word He wrote “you say ‘I am rich, have become
wealthy and have need of nothing and do not know that you are wretched,
miserable, poor, blind and naked…I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in
the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments that you may be clothed,
that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed…be zealous and repent”
[Revelation 3:17-19].
You
apparently stated ‘Britain in 2006 will
continue to be one of the most successful countries in the world with a strong
economy and good public services’. A God–inspired wise man from a
bygone era said, “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a
day may bring forth” [Proverbs 27:1] and he also wrote “The fear of the
Lord is the beginning of knowledge
but fools despise wisdom and instruction” [Proverbs 1:7] –
sadly as a nation we are clearly in the hands of a ‘ship of fools’.
Yours,
a debtor to the forgiving mercy of Jesus Christ
Cecil Andrews
Northern
Ireland
“Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a
reproach to any people”
Proverbs 14:34
In recent times Tony Blair has also been invited to speak at the church of another ‘user-friendly’ spiritual ‘guru’ – I’m referring to the Willow Creek church pastored by Bill Hybels. The following post on http://truedsicernment.com/2009/06/05/willow-creek-church-to-honor-tony-blair-champion-of-homosexuality/ sums up very succinctly the close identity between Tony Blair and things ‘gay’ and also mentions what will be the subject of the second part of this article namely the efforts made by so-called Christians to forge some sort of accommodation/partnership with non-Christian religions and in particular Islam. This was the post –
Willow Creek to Honor Gay Champion,
Tony Blair
June 5, 2009 by John
Willow Creek Community Church and Bill Hybels will be
honoring Tony Blair at its annual Leadership Summit in August. Tony Blair’s
“Third Way” was a failure, and he left his country in shambles, but as this
article points out, his one singing success was gay rights. In April, Tony
Blair had the audacity to lecture
the pope on homosexuality, telling him to get the Catholic church up to speed on gay rights.
Bill Hybels doesn’t care where people are being led at
his “Leadership Summits.” He’ll feature anyone who is an international
celebrity, no matter that they are moral failures. Bill Clinton’s visit to
Willow Creek comes to mind. That’s because Hybels long ago departed the faith
once delivered to the saints in exchange for his own celebrity status and sense
of importance.
Tony Blair is no example of biblical leadership. His new
Faith Foundation is dedicated to interspirituality and the promotion of the
United Nations’ Millennium
Development Goals. He added that the foundation would focus on the
“Abrahamic faiths” of Christianity, Judaism and Islam, as well as Hinduism,
Sikhism and Buddhism, and that it would help people of those faiths “discover
what they share” and “help partner those within any of the faiths who stand up
for peaceful co-existence and reject the extremist and divisive notion that
faiths are in fundamental struggle against each other.”
This is what Bill Hybels is promoting at Willow Creek as
leadership for Christians to follow. God help us.
Returning to Mr Blair’s challenge to the Pope, less
than 2 years into his ‘pilgrimage’ as a Roman Catholic Mr Blair would appear to
be displaying gross ignorance of just what precisely he has got himself into
through becoming a Roman Catholic. In the Daily Mail of Saturday 11th
April 2009, in an article titled ‘Catholic leaders’ rebuke for Blair’ Steve
Doughty wrote the following –
‘The new leader of English Catholics yesterday
slapped down Tony Blair over his calls for gay rights in the Church. The Most
Reverend Vincent Nichols said Roman Catholic thinking was “rather different” to
the kind promoted by the former Prime Minister… he dismissed Mr Blair’s grip on
spiritual truths adding “I think I will take my guide from Pope Benedict… The
brush-off for Mr Blair followed an interview given by the former Prime Minister
to a gay magazine, Attitude, in which he pressed for gay rights in the
Church… Mr Blair said “Actually we need an attitude of mind where rethinking
and the concept of evolving attitudes becomes part of the discipline with which
you approach your religious faith… my view is that rethinking is good, so let’s
carry on rethinking”’.
Truly there is “no new thing under the sun” and it seems to me that Tony Blair would have been very popular and widely accepted in the days of The Judges where we read that “every man did that which was right in his own eyes” Judges 21:25.
Ann Widdecombe, the Conservative MP and another high-profile convert to Roman Catholicism back in April 1993 summed up Mr Blair’s situation very well in her column in the Daily Express of Wednesday 15th April 2009 when she wrote –
‘All converts to the Roman Catholic faith
have to make a very clear statement at the service of reception “I believe all
the church teaches to be revealed truth”. Tony Blair, knowing full well the
church’s doctrine on homosexuality, must have made that statement. So what
happened? Did he agree with the Pope less than two years ago but has since
changed his mind? Or did he simply perjure himself? If it is a case of the
latter then Anthony Charles Lynton Blair might care to consider that, whereas
he could fool the British people and fool Parliament, he cannot fool Almighty
God’.
Tony Blair needs to take a fresh look at the Catechism
of the Catholic Church and in particular Paragraph 882 that states
in part ‘The Roman Pontiff, by reason of his office as Vicar of Christ, and
as pastor of the entire Church, has full, supreme and universal power over the
whole Church, a power which he can always exercise unhindered’. Tony Blair
clearly has aspirations to be the first President of the European Union should
the Lisbon Treaty [basically
a European Constitution] be foisted upon the peoples of Europe but he
will learn that as a Roman Catholic he, like countless European Roman Catholic
monarchs and presidents before him, over the past 14 centuries or so, must bow
the knee to their spiritual master, the Pope of Rome. Canon 1442 of
Rome’s Code of Canon Law states ‘The Roman Pontiff is the supreme
judge for the whole catholic world. He gives judgments either personally, or
through the ordinary tribunals of the apostolic See, or through judges whom he
delegates’.
Rev J A Wylie in his 1851 award-winning book ‘The Papacy’ wrote these enlightening words [pages 146-149]
‘We have shown in the foregoing chapter that
nothing in all past history is better authenticated than the fact that the
Papacy has claimed supremacy over kings and kingdoms… though the Church of Rome
is silent on her claims meanwhile, we are not warranted to take that silence
for surrender. They are not claims renounced; they are simply claims not
asserted… the Church of Rome cannot renounce this claim because (according to her own claims)
she is
infallible’
Earlier in his book, and perhaps Mr Blair should take a special note of this, Mr Wylie wrote on page 102 –
‘History presents us with a list of not less
than sixty-four emperors and kings deposed by the popes’
Those well acquainted with the ministry of ‘Take Heed’ will know that I am no fan of the Belfast Telegraph’s Religion Correspondent, Alf McCreary, but he wrote some rather apt comments in his column of Saturday 25th April 2009 –
‘Ambiguity in politics sometimes works but it
can lead to chaos. In the field of
religion it can also create an erosion of core beliefs and this is why Mr
Blair’s advice to Pope Benedict is so misplaced… Blair in many senses is a
failed politician and his advice to Church leaders, including the Pope, is not
only misleading but dangerous’.
Whilst Tony Blair failed to make any impact on the
thinking of the Pope or the Roman Catholic church in the matter of ‘things
gay’ it would appear that he has certainly had much greater success in
impacting, influencing and changing the attitude and views of Rick Warren in
these areas and in consequence Rick Warren, in his further departure from the
clear teaching of God’s Word, is on this issue “waxing (becoming) worse and
worse”.
I
want now to move to the second subject where
I believe both Rick Warren and Tony Blair are jointly in tandem “deceiving and being
deceived and that is the ‘Interfaith’ issue.
Wherever he goes and speaks Rick Warren is for the most part invariably
introduced as ‘Pastor’ Rick Warren for of course he is the ‘Pastor’ of his
Saddleback Church in Southern California. That being the case it was
appropriate that I began this article by looking at some verses from Paul’s
second letter to Timothy which, along with his first letter to Timothy and his
letter to Titus are commonly referred to as the ‘Pastoral’ epistles because
they contain much instruction and guidance for ‘pastors’ as they seek to fulfil
the role of ‘pastor’ of a church.
Moving on from the verses in chapter 3 of 2nd Timothy that I
referred to earlier I want now to quote some portions from the early verses [1-5] of 2nd
Timothy chapter 4 as we begin our look at this ‘Interfaith’
issue. Paul wrote, “I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ…
Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season… endure afflictions, do
the work of an evangelist”.
Paul was really reminding Timothy that as a pastor he had been
commissioned to serve the Lord Jesus Christ and that it is to Him that he must
ultimately give an account for his service as a Christian pastor. Paul
immediately identifies the first and foremost responsibility of a pastor and
that is to preach God’s Word. He is not to be a philosopher or a psychologist
or a politician, he is to be a preacher. Dr Ironside wrote ‘He (Paul) did not tell Timothy to preach philosophy, nor preach politics, nor
preach some system of morals, but preach the Word!’
Secondly he must be ready to do that irrespective of what the prevailing
‘climate’ happens to be where preaching is concerned – he must be prepared to
boldly proclaim God’s Word whether the cultural winds are for or against
biblical preaching.
Commenting in his bible study notes on the words “be instant”,
Pastor John MacArthur wrote ‘Here the form of the verb suggests the
complementary ideas of urgency, preparedness and readiness. It was used of a
soldier prepared to go into battle or a guard who was continually alert for any
surprise attack – attitudes which are imperative for a faithful preacher’.
Dr Ironside wrote ‘Paul is really saying, “Be constantly on
the outlook for opportunities to glorify God and to make Him known to others”’.
Commenting then on “in season and out of season” Pastor MacArthur
wrote ‘The faithful preacher must proclaim the Word
when it is popular and/or convenient AND when it is not, when it seems suitable
to us AND when it seems not. The dictates of popular culture, tradition,
reputation, acceptance or esteem in the community (or in the church) must never
alter the true preacher’s commitment to proclaim God’s Word’.
Commenting finally on “do the work of an evangelist” Pastor
MacArthur wrote ‘this word always refers to a specific office of ministry
for the purpose of preaching the gospel to non-Christians… (whilst) Paul did not call Timothy to the office of an
evangelist (he instructed him) to “do the work” of one’.
Dr Ironside wrote ‘I do not think Timothy was an evangelist. I think
as I read over the passages of Scripture that give information regarding the
character of his work, that he was a pastor… But Paul says to him “Do not
forget the gospel: men are dying in their sins. Do not be so occupied with
feeding the flock (Cecil - or in
Rick Warren’s case - other matters) that you overlook the need of those who are out of Christ; do the work
of an evangelist’.
Paul was certainly no hypocrite, he did not say
one thing and then do something completely different. When he gave these
instructions to ‘pastor’ Timothy he was outlining the approach that he himself
had adopted. He had preached in some very inhospitable spiritual ‘climates’ –
he reminded the believers in Corinth that “I brethren, when I came to you,
came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom,
declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything
among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified”. In
Corinth Paul would have been confronted with an array of cultures, false
religions and gross immorality but he simply “preached the word” and “did
the work of an evangelist”.
Earlier I also quoted from verse 5 the phrase “endure afflictions” and
Paul certainly had to do that in the wake of his preaching and evangelism in
places like Philippi, [see Acts 16:
19-23] Thessalonica, [see Acts 17:5-14] and Ephesus {see Acts 19:23 –
20:1]. When a pastor is
faithful in his preaching and his evangelism he will very likely experience
what Paul wrote in verse 12 of chapter 3 “and all that will live godly in
Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution”.
When addressing those of differing cultures, philosophies and religions
Paul ‘stuck to his gospel guns’ and this is well illustrated when he addressed
the philosophical and religious groups in Athens as we read in Acts 17:16-33.
At the heart of his preaching and evangelism was this simple statement in verse
23 “as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this
inscription, To The Unknown God. Whom therefore ye
ignorantly worship, HIM DECLARE I UNTO YOU”.
Has Rick Warren adopted the approach of ‘being instant, in season and
out of season’ to ‘preach the word’? Sadly the answer is a resounding
‘no’. In a previous article I outlined how, when invited to address a
large group of Jewish rabbis and religious leaders, he did not preach Christ
and did not seek to evangelise them but rather he shared ‘principles’ with them
as to how they could grow and enlarge their unbelieving faith communities. You
can read this article on http://www.takeheed.net/CurrentConcerns_2/Rick_Warren_Judaism.htm
In that article I mentioned that another who heard him speak to the
Jewish leaders was a leading American Muslim called Dr Ingrid Mattson, President of the Islamic Society of North
America. Like Rick Warren, who had a high-profile involvement at President
Obama’s when he led in ‘prayer’, [you can read my assessment of
this ‘prayer’ on http://www.takeheed.net/CurrentConcerns_2/Warren_inaugural_prayer.htm]
Dr Mattson also had an opportuniy
at that time to pray for the Obamas as you can read on
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1402878/hamasfriendly_ingrid_mattson_to_join.html
This Warren-Mattson connection will I think therefore explain how
‘Pastor’ Rick Warren came to be an invited guest speaker at the 4th
July 2009 Islamic Society of North America conference held in Washington
– a rather interesting report on this and talk and also Mr Warren’s previous
address to the Jewish leaders is recorded on
You can watch what Rick Warren said to the ISNA on
It is perfectly clear that Rick Warren is shunning the instruction of Paul to Timothy – why is he doing that? I believe he simply fails to understand the Christian ‘mission’ in this world. The Christian ‘mission’ is not to ‘patch-up’ and ‘pacify’ the world by employing Rick Warren’s famous [infamous] 3-legged stool analogy – that a partnership of governments, business and religions will solve global problems and bring about ‘social cohesion’ and world peace.
Mr Warren, the Christian ‘mission’ is not to moralise, civilise or sanitise the world but to evangelise the world so that those for whom Christ died will be savingly called out, discipled and prepared for the eternal glory with Christ that is yet to come.
The following portion from an article that highlights Warren’s 3-legged stool approach will illustrate where his ‘mission’ priorities seem to lie – the full article can be accessed on http://www.rickwarrennews.com/080806_hivconf.htm
‘During the session, the leaders spoke of how
each of their segments of society – government, business and church – can work
in tandem to solve the problem of HIV/AIDS. “Both a one-legged and a two-legged
stool will fall over, but a three-legged stool will stand,” Pastor Warren
explained. “There is a public sector role of government and NGOs; there is the
private or profit sector role of businesses; and there is the faith sector role
of churches and houses of worship’.
In an article called ‘The Power of Parishioners’ that was published in 2007 Rick Warren wrote this –
‘The
three-legged model of cooperation is something we call the P.E.A.C.E. plan
(partner with congregations; equip leaders; assist the poor; care for the sick;
educate the next generation). This is a response to the five global problems I
mentioned earlier: spiritual emptiness, corruption, poverty, disease and
illiteracy. To date Saddleback Church has dispatched more than 4,000 members to
more than 65 countries to participate in P.E.A.C.E. projects, in addition to
3,500 other members who served overseas before we launched the plan… It's time
to lay aside our prejudices and work together’.
Whilst
these are noble social and humanitarian goals they are not the ‘mission’ of
Christ’s Church. When a woman came and anointed the Lord with expensive
ointment [See Matthew 26:7] the disciples were very
indignant at what they perceived to be a waste of something so valuable and
they outlined what could be viewed as the first ‘social gospel’ - “this ointment might have been sold for
much and given to the poor” [Matthew 26:9].
The
Lord responded with “ye have the poor always with you” [Matthew
26:11] indicating
clearly that the gospel priority is not the eradication of poverty – yes there
will always be opportunities for Christians to be charitable but worship of the
Lord Jesus Christ clearly takes priority over any earth-bound social activity
and as only true believers can worship ‘in spirit and in truth’ then gospel
proclamation should be the priority of Christ’s Church.
In looking at Mr Warren’s huge
emphasis on charitable social activity I am once more drawn back to something
that Loraine Boettner wrote on pages 30-31 of his classic work on ‘Roman
Catholicism’
[another
religious system that places undue emphasis on charitable, social activity,
because of course of their ‘faith+works’ “gospel”].
For
me these words show very clearly how the ‘mission’ of Christ’s Church can so
easily and seductively be highjacked and turned into nothing more than a desire
to better mankind’s lot whilst here on earth.
Loraine Boettner wrote under a sub-heading of ‘The Church in Politics’
‘She
must not allow herself to be used as a pressure group for the securing of
certain rights and temporal benefits for men, nor to pressure the state for
reform measures even though such reforms may be needed and desirable from the
Christian viewpoint. Christians as individuals are indeed to work for whatever
reforms may be needed but the Church is not to do so in her corporate capacity.
Such action on the part of the Church almost invariably will detract from her
primary mission of the proclamation of The Gospel and ministering to the
spiritual needs of men and will tend to give people a wrong conception as to
what her mission really is’.
As for any faithful church touting an earthbound P.E.A.C.E.
plan well this is really just an unscriptural pipe dream. Christ Himself
never promised that He would bring peace upon the earth – quite the opposite in
fact as we read in Luke 12:51 “Suppose ye that
I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, nay, but rather division”. Conversion
to Christ brings ‘peace with God’ which is why Paul, in the midst of writing
about spiritual warfare, referred to “the gospel of peace” [Ephesians 6:15].
Commenting on the parallel record of Luke 12:51 as
found in Matthew 10:34 John MacArthur in his bible study notes wrote – ‘Though the ultimate end of the gospel is peace with God
(John 14:27; Romans 8:6) the immediate result of the gospel is frequently
conflict. Conversion to Christ can result in strained family relationships,
persecution and even martyrdom. Following Christ presupposes a willingness to
endure such hardships [remember
Paul’s words to Timothy in 2nd Timothy 4:5 “endure afflictions”].
Though He is called “Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6) Christ will have no one
deluded into thinking that He calls believers to a life devoid of all
conflict’.
Now, before returning to comment specifically upon what
Rick Warren said to the ISNA, as can be seen on the link that I
mentioned earlier on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQak4l60Dt4&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Esliceoflaodicea%2Ecom%2F&feature=player_embedded
I think it is important, by way of background, to be aware of another initiative that Rick Warren [and also Bill Hybels and also the founding father of the user-friendly movement, Robert Schuller, plus also the ‘emerging church’ heretic Brian McLaren] gave their support to and that was a November 2007 supposed evangelical response to a statement put out in October 2007 by a group of Islamic authorities and scholars. Their statement was called ‘A Common Word Between Us and You’ and it in turn had been prompted by controversial comments made by Pope Benedict the previous year in Regensburg. You can view the background to and wording of this ‘Common Word’ on www.acommonword.com
Discerning evangelicals were able to see through the deceptive nature and aims of this carefully crafted ‘Common Word’ but of course you then have the pseudo evangelicals such as Mr Warren and Mr Hybels etc and they were well and truly taken in by this Islamic ‘overture’. Dr Patrick Sookhdeo of the Barnabas Fund published helpful articles on this initiative and they can be viewed on
One extract
from this reads – ‘The message is that if Christians
will accept Islam’s concept of the unity of God (thus
denying the basic doctrines of the Trinity and deity of Christ), Muslims
will accept the Christian values of love for God and neighbour as central to
Islam. Thus a radical revolutionary change in Christianity is demanded in
exchange for a superficial change of emphasis in Islamic perceptions’.
One extract
from this reads – ‘Hartford Seminary in Connecticut, one of America’s oldest
theological schools, was founded in 1834 by Calvinists who left Yale College to
found a new institution of Christian learning. In the early decades of the
twentieth century Hartford was a leading institution in the evangelization of
Muslims… Today, Muslims make up 35 percent of the student body at Hartford
Seminary, an institution which a few generations ago was training Christians to
evangelize Muslims. The case of Hartford Seminary shows how the laudable desire
to understand Islam and Muslims has brought a Calvinist foundation with a
strong missionary emphasis to the point of using its resources to train and
equip Muslims to strengthen other Muslims in their faith.’
One
extract from this reads – ‘Although we respect and love Muslims, Christians
cannot accept Islam as an equal and valid revelation from God. The denial of
the deity of Christ and His redemptive work as well as of the Trinity will
always stand in the way of interfaith dialogue and co-operation. Just as
Muslims cannot accept the Christian denial of Muhammad’s prophethood and the
Qur’an’s status as the word of God, so Christians
must take a clear stand on the central doctrines of their faith. To do so might
result in a loss of popularity and influence, but loyalty and faithfulness to
Christ, to His people and to His mission are much more important in God’s
eyes…. In sum, inherent in this process is the danger of downplaying the
uniqueness and deity of Christ, the Bible as the word
of God, and mission as a Christian imperative. It may also promote Christian
acceptance of Islam and other religions as valid and salvific ways to God. We
pray that in our varied globalised and plural world contexts we as Christians
may continue to be faithfully focused on Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour and
not lose heart in bearing witness to God in Christ reconciling the world to Himself (2. Corinthians 5:17-21).’
Just
as an aside, those of us living in the United Kingdom will not in any way be
encouraged by what Tony Blair’s successor, Gordon Brown said in a National
Security Statement made on 14th November 2007 and that can be
viewed on
http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page13757
Gordon Brown said
‘It is by seeking to build on shared interests and shared
values that we will isolate extremists and foster understanding across faiths.
Following the recent remarkable letter by 138 Muslim scholars from a diversity
of traditions within Islam, which paid tribute to the common roots of Islam,
Christianity and Judaism and called for deeper dialogue, we stand ready to
support new facilities for multi-faith scholarship in Britain. A Green Paper
will be published to encourage inter-faith groups to come together in every
constituency of the country. I am also inviting the
Higher Education Funding Council to investigate the idea of setting up in
Britain a European centre of excellence for Islamic studies.’
This portion of Mr Brown’s statement is posted [no. 39] to the Islamic ‘Common Word’ website on http://www.acommonword.com/index.php?lang=en&page=responses
With
this background information in mind, namely Rick Warren’s openness to the
Islamic ‘A Common Word Between Us and You’, I want now to comment
briefly on what Mr Warren said when addressing the ISNA in Washington in
July 2009.
The
first thing I would say is that if you watch Mr Warren’s talk on the link I
provided don’t overlook to read the comments posted below the video screen.
Christians who have exercised biblical discernment in formulating their
comments have clearly written many of them.
Secondly
it was very evident that Rick Warren was not going to have to “endure
afflictions” by saying anything that would exalt the Person and Work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Any remotely ‘Christian’ terminology was couched in such a
way that Muslims would simply nod their heads in misled agreement.
Warren
mentioned the Lord once when he said ‘My deepest faith is in Jesus Christ’ –
he didn’t elaborate on that by identifying Jesus Christ as The Son of God/God
the Son as of course that would have alienated him from his listening audience;
he didn’t identify Jesus Christ as the only Saviour of sinners through His
atoning death on the Cross of Calvary as that too would have alienated him from
his listening audience. In short he totally avoided what Paul referred to in
Galatians 5:11 as “the offence of the cross”. Muslims are offended to
think that God would allow someone worshipped by Christians as His Son to die
on a cross to save sinners from going to hell. That to them is not only
offensive but it is also blasphemous in their eyes and yet that is what
Christians are commanded to preach to non-Christians but Rick Warren totally
‘bottled out’. Those who fail to confess Christ [fully] before men on earth in
effect deny Him and Christ in consequence will deny them before His Father in
heaven [see Matthew 10:32-33].
Rick
Warren on a number of occasions talked about ‘God’ but never once did he
explain that Christians worship a triune God of Father, Son and Holy Spirit as
of course that would have alienated him from his listening audience. In fact,
by his attitude and wording, he implied that Muslims truly worship ‘God’ but
Christians know that this is not the case – the ‘God’ that Muslims
worship is a devilish deception designed to lead them to a lost eternity.
Again
Mr Warren used ‘religiously-correct’ language designed not to alienate himself
from his audience when he often spoke of ‘Congregations of Faith’ in for
example his references to Rwanda – here he was equating all of these groups of
basically possessing an equal ‘faith’. Not so – there is ‘faith’ and
then there is ‘the faith’ that true Christians possess and Christians
are commanded in God’s Word to “earnestly contend” [Jude 3] for it.
There was certainly no ‘contending for the faith’ as Mr Warren spoke – quite
the opposite in fact!
This
was basically a politically based moralising crusade where Rick Warren was
encouraging what he classed as ‘people of good will’ to walk together even
though they don’t see, as he put it, eye to eye, and to work together to
achieve some common noble charitable social goals.
He
was also encouraging attitudes like protecting freedom of speech and freedom of
religion – things that people in the Western world have for centuries taken for
granted but which are in effect anathema to the philosophy and ideology of
Koranic Islam.
He
stated that it should be possible to disagree with someone without hating him
or her – that’s not the example that was personally set by Mohammed! Mr Warren
wanted Christians and Muslims to work together to restore civility to
civilisation and to basically foster universal peace. Doesn’t Rick Warren know
that the goal of Islam is to islamise the entire world and then according to
Islam there will be universal peace and total civility as all human beings
become subservient to Allah and are subject to his Sharia law?
To
summarise, ‘Pastor‘ Rick Warren totally failed to “preach
the word” and to “do the work of an evangelist” and for that he will
one day have to give an account. At the start of his talk he jokingly quoted
some examples of ‘feedback’ he had received on occasions from people in his
church. One quote was as follows – ‘Pastor Rick your words are like water to
a drowning man’ – what he said in this talk was like [polluted] water to
Muslims who are presently perishing and drowning in a sea of false religious
belief
I
want now as a final word on Rick Warren’s talk to the ISNA to post much
of an ‘open letter to Rick Warren’ that was penned by a Christian lady, Jan
Markell who runs an apologetics ministry called ‘Olive Tree Ministries’.
It can be viewed in its entirety on http://www.sliceoflaodicea.com/category/purpose-driven-madness
[July
06]
‘On July 5 the Washington Times online reported that
Pastor Rick Warren told his Islamic audience, the Islamic Society of North
America (ISNA,) that he envisions “a coalition of faith.” Whether Pastor Warren
knows this or not, this is just another term for the coming one-world religion…
after reading what the Washington Times has to say about his message to a group
of spiritually lost Muslims, I feel I must address this in an open letter to
who many say is the most influential pastor in America and some would say the
world.
Pastor Warren, you pleaded with 8,000 Muslim listeners
on Saturday, July 4, to work together to solve the world’s greatest problems by
cooperating in a series of interfaith projects. You said, “Muslims and
Christians can work together for the common good without compromising my
convictions or your convictions.”
Pastor Warren, you needed to compromise the
convictions of the Muslims in attendance. To just say that “My deepest faith is
in Jesus Christ” was not enough to a thoroughly lost crowd. The hour is too late
to withhold a gospel message without which they will face a Christless
eternity, and you will be held accountable. The “world’s greatest problems”
will always be with us and the Bible says so in Matthew 26:11. Sin is at the
root of them. I have to conclude you are more interested in ecumenical unity
and solving AIDS, poverty, and other social issues. Last Saturday you were
given a golden opportunity that 99.9% of American Christians could never get.
You said you were not interested in interfaith dialogue,
but you seize every opportunity to talk to all religions and you always leave
out the gospel. You even address Jewish groups but you tell them how to grow a
mega-synagogue like your own church, Saddleback. In this “can’t we all get
along?” generation, you usually leave out the only good news left: There is
salvation in Christ and Christ alone (Acts 4:12) and the hour is late, so make
a conscious decision to be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.
You told ISNA, “Talk is cheap but love is something we
do together. We must do something to model what it is to live in peace, to live
in harmony.” Pastor Warren, you know your Bible better than that, don’t you?
The Bible says there will never be peace and harmony in this world until the
Messiah rules… yet you push for foolish and hopeless ecumenical peace!
In your speech you included… suggestions: 1) Create a
coalition to end religious stereotyping; 2) Work together to restore civility
to American society; 3) Take a common stand against attacks on freedom of religion
and freedom of speech. There is civility in American society so why are you
even suggesting there might not be? But you won’t find much of it in Islamic
society. Go see the film, The Stoning of Soraya M, the true story of what
happens to a lot of innocent Muslim women. It’s a lot more gross and bloody
than any horror flick and this is reality, not fiction. The Muslims you
addressed know all about this procedure. ISNA wants Sharia Law everywhere on
earth! You missed a golden opportunity to challenge them to stand up to Islamic
governments that perpetrate such atrocities…
The ISNA stated how impressed they were with your
charitable work. What charitable work have they done? As terror expert Steve
Emerson says, “ISNA has has been an umbrella and a promoter of groups that have
been involved in terrorism.” Here again you could have challenged them, but
then you would not be invited back had you done so. Joseph Farah says, “Suffice
it to say the ISNA is no friend of Christianity or America.” Yet in 2007, Rick
Warren was one of many “evangelical leaders” who signed a document begging
forgiveness from Muslims for all the evil deeds perpetrated against them by
Christians. What evil deeds have true Christians committed against Muslims?
Now, Pastor Warren, you’ve gone beyond pandering and are sounding like a fool
along with all others who signed that document.
Even the secular Washington Times noted, “Mr. Warren
was sparse in his mentions of Jesus and God.” But since works and good deeds
were stressed, this reinforced the belief of ISNA members that works will help
them get to Heaven.
Pastor Warren, you stated you were committed to “the
common good” and that you are commanded to “respect everybody.” You don’t want
to deal with the verse that says we are to preach to gospel to all creation”
(Mark 16:15). It seems to me that you are more interested in marching
hand-in-hand with other faiths down the winding road to the coming one-world
religion. We don’t expect you to give
altar calls at such meetings as this one. We do expect you to lift high the
Name of the Prince of Peace who is coming again and who offers eternal life to
all who ask, “What must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:3031).
Many just wanted some variation of that quoted among your many ecumenical
statements and how to solve the world’s problems — impossible without God’s
help…
Awaiting His return,
Jan Markell
I want finally now to address the Tony Blair
aspect/influence as it can be found in what Rick Warren said to the people
attending the ISNA conference. There is no doubt that what Mr. Warren
said is fully in keeping with the ethos and aims of the Tony Blair foundation
in which he serves as a member of the Advisory Council.
On this link http://www.tonyblairfaithfoundation.org/projects/faiths-act/faiths-act-together/
you can view a page devoted to the topic that ‘Faiths Act Together’.
The Tony Blair Faith Foundation and Rick Warren by what he said
when he addressed the ISNA are clearly ‘singing
from the same hymn sheet’ and together they are hindering the Christian Mission
to evangelize the lost. In that they are showing which master they are truly
serving.
In closing I would mention that there are quite a
number of blog sites where this event has been a major topic of discussion and
on this one
http://www.answeringmuslims.com/2009/07/video-pastor-rick-warren-speaks-to.html
I particularly liked many of the comments posted by a
contributor who titled himself as ‘Nu’ –this is part of what Nu wrote
–
Hi people,
Just joined in with the dialogue on this site-I am so excited to
find a place where people are speaking freely about what (i think) is the most
important exercise of life-finding the truth and saying yes to it (or Him, as I
have discovered). I am persuaded that Jesus is the truth, and I am firmly on
His side of the fence. I've watched the Rick Warren video; I wonder if he
personally knows and loves individual muslims. I also
wonder whether the Jesus in the bible is the same one he says he believes in.
I think it is impossible to know Jesus as he is in the bible and
to personally care about people who are muslims and
then go and give a speech like that. If you have found the truth (or the truth
has found you)...i think it would be very very difficult to stand in front of
so many people, many of them hanging on your every word, and instead of
pointing them to that truth with every minute you have, you start talking about
'promoting freedom of speech and religion', and co-existence, and 'facilitating
people to do what they do best'. He sounded like a politician!…
He diagnoses the 'problem' between Muslims and Christians as
essentially being a social-cultural misundertanding. The cure he recommends is
that the two find a way to 'get along'. All this is not true. The problem is
not that we are 'unwilling to reconcile our different views'- these views are
irreconcilable!
He also gives the idea that both views/faiths
are 'right'; they are the choice of the people following them and everyone
should let everyone else the freedom to to choose their religion. What??! Did Jesus say 'I'm doing my thing, you do
your thing. If you want to come along with me, that's
also your choice. It doesn't matter whatever you choose, the important thing is
that you freely exercise your right to choose and that you also make sure you
let others choose freely.'
Muhammed, or Allah through Muhammed may have said 'you to your
religion, and I to mine’, but there is no shred of laissez faire in
Islamic theology or practice. Each faith clearly says; THIS IS THE WAY, if you
chose it, blessed are you, if you don't, woe unto you.
The MOST IMPORTANT THING is therefore choosing the right thing, the right way.
How can a pastor (i.e someone who has aligned himself with a belief and has
even obtained a place of leadership in that line) stand in front of people and
basically tell them to live and let live?
This is not bridge building, this is taking people off on a
detour when you should be a clear signpost.I don't know any signpost that says
'left or right or back, whatever is good for you, as long as you don't get into
someone else's way!'. I think Rick did Christians and Muslims and especially
Christ, a great injustice:- I know i would not set a
toe on any bridge he is building.
It is most heartwarming to know that even as Rick
Warren, under the influence of Tony Blair, is clearly “waxing [becoming]
worse and worse, deceiving and being
deceived” God still has His people like ‘Nu’ who
have not been taken in by all this Christ dishonouring religious talk and
activity and who are able to discern and to warn others of ‘wolves in sheep’s
clothing’.
Cecil
Andrews – ‘Take Heed’ Ministries – 23rd July 2009
APPENDIX
10 MARCH 2011
Since writing my original article back in July 2009 the ‘Warren-Blair
partnership’ has continued to strengthen and grow in influence and just in
recent days a conference took place at Saddleback Church where Tony Blair was a
guest speaker.
My good friend Roger Oakland and several members of his team attended and
the following is their report on what happened – it indicates that the pace of
apostasy and delusion within professing Christendom is certainly quickening. It
also indicates that grievous ‘wolves in sheep’s clothing’ are drawing disciples
away after them [Matthew 7:15-20; Acts 20:29-30]
Such false leaders can of course be used by the Lord to test the
genuineness of those who profess to be His [Deuteronomy 13:1-3] – it would
appear that today there are many ‘tares’ [Matthew 13:24-30] and many ‘goats’
[Matthew 25:31-33] circulating within professing Christendom!
Cecil Andrews – ‘Take
Heed’ Ministries – 10 March 2011
A SPECIAL REPORT BY
LIGHTHOUSE TRAILS RESEARCH AND ROGER OAKLAND
On
March 7, 2011, Roger Oakland, founder of Understand the Times, International,
and two other members from his ministry attended the Peace
in a Globalized Society forum at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest,
California, which featured Rick Warren and special guest, former UK prime
minister Tony Blair. Roger Oakland and his co-workers obtained eye-witness
seats at the event that included well over 2000 people in attendance. Although
cameras and recorders were not allowed in the main sanctuary where
the interview took place, the UTT team took notes.
What
Oakland and his team heard caused them much concern – thus the reason for this
special report. Warren and Blair spoke about Warren’s PEACE Plan and his “Three
Legged Stool Plan.” Tony Blair spoke about his inter-faith Faith Foundation.
Both speakers were noticeably excited about what they were doing for the
world. According to a 2010
UK Observer
report, “Tony Blair is preparing to launch a “faith offensive” across the
United States over the next year, after building up relationships with a
network of influential religious leaders and faith organisations.” Blair’s
foundation is “develop[ing] a US arm that will pursue a host of faith-based
projects.” Given the fact that Warren joined
the advisory board of Blair’s foundation, it
is safe to assume Saddleback will be part of Blair’s US interfaith arm.
At
the forum, both Warren and Blair stated that the only way a global peace could
happen on planet earth in the future would be for all faiths to work together
and do good together. The audience at the forum appeared to be mesmerized
and awe-struck as they were wooed with discussion on faith, good works,
democracy, and coming together. Beneath the vernacular, however, was another
story.
Blair
and Warren also mentioned they have been partnering with the President of
Rwanda in an effort to develop a Purpose Driven country as an initial step to
establishing a Purpose Driven world. In 2005,
Rick Warren announced his global P.E.A.C.E. Plan to his congregation and
then in 2008 announced that Rwanda would be
the first Purpose Driven country. In 2003, he
said of New Age sympathizer Ken Blanchard that he had “signed on
to help with the Peace Plan, and he’s going to be helping train us in
leadership and in how to train others to be leaders all around the world”
(35-37 min mark).* Blanchard is just one of many “new” spirituality
leaders whom
Warren has turned to for assistance in building his Peace Plan globally.
While Blanchard’s name is not mentioned much publicly by Rick Warren these
days, Warren still sits on Blanchard’s
Board of Advisors with a number of New Agers at Blanchard’s Lead Like Jesus organization. Blanchard has been promoting New
Age mystical teachers for many years and even today sits on the
Board of the New Age Hoffman Institute. In 2007, Blanchard wrote the foreword
to a book that was “inspired by Hindu swami Paramahansa
Yogananada. Will this Warren/Blair Peace Plan be one that is driven by
mysticism?
It
seems apparent that neither Rick Warren nor Tony Blair understand
that their Peace Plan goals are fulfilling Bible prophecy, which speaks of a
peace that is not from God but will deceive many. By appearances, the
majority of the people who were attending the forum last week appeared
mesmerized and awe-struck by what was being said. Do they not realize that a
three legged stool (the joining together of government, business (or economy),
and religion) plan will be a plan by man and not by God (see Faith Undone)?
Rick
Warren has also partnered with Chuck Colson, the
Christian leader who authored the Evangelicals
& Catholics Together document in 1994 and the Manhattan
Declaration in 2009. Former Catholic priest Richard Bennett documents
the embedded Catholic agenda in the Manhattan Declaration as does Chris Pinto of
Adullam Films.
At
the Global forum last week, two standing ovations were given to Tony Blair for
his support of the USA in the war against terrorism. Mention was made that
Blair is now involved in trying to broker a peace plan with the nation of
Israel with his faith-based program. He thinks he can do this in time. But what
will an inter-faith peace plan look like in Israel? What will it look like in
the world?
While
Rick Warren is a Baptist and Tony Blair is an ex-Anglican, now-Roman Catholic,
neither showed any concern about the major doctrinal differences between
Evangelicals/Protestants and Catholics. “It’s all about working together to do good,” Warren stated. In a 2005
interview with broadcast host Charlie Rose, Warren stated that there are
over 2 billion Christians in the world, and said that this number includes
hundreds of millions of Catholics. He said that “minor doctrinal differences”
should not keep the two groups separated. “What I am interested in is bringing
the church together … we are never going to agree on a lot of things, but I
found we do agree on purpose. Of course, there was no mention at the
forum last week about the papacy’s plan for a world-wide
Eucharistic (Catholic) “Christ”who will come on the scene to be worshiped
by the world. Will this inter-faith Purpose Driven peace plan include that eucharistic false christ?
In
the Charlie Rose interview in 2005, Warren said that we don’t have to have the
same religion or moral beliefs to work with people on poverty, disease, etc. As
an example he said he had met with the President of the gay-activist group ACT
UP, and asked him, “Eric [Sawyer], how can I help you get your message out?”
Sawyer answered, “Use your moral authority” (29-31 min
mark). Warren then said to Rose, “I’m working with these guys … I’m
looking for a coalition of civility, which means let’s get back to the original
meaning of tolerance. Will this Purpose Driven peace plan and new reformation
include practicing homosexuals? Warren seems to believe his new Purpose Driven
world will be all inclusive. But how can this be
called a reformation from God?
Both
Blair and Warren have a vision to see churches with like-minded vision planted
all over the world. These churches will be ones of any faith and all faith as
long as they have some kind of faith in some god. “These churches will be like
lights shining in a dark place and bring light to the world,” Warren stated.
Warren said the more lights, the brighter the world will be. His view that a
“second reformation” is needed and that people of various faiths can be part of
it has been documented time and again. Listen to Warren’s description of this
new reformation:
Who’s
the man of peace in any village – or it might be a woman of peace – who has the
most respect, they’re open and they’re influential? They don’t have to be a
Christian. In fact, they could be a Muslim, but they’re open and they’re
influential and you work with them to attack the five giants. And that’s going
to bring the second Reformation. Rick Warren, May 23, 2005, Pew
Forum on Religion
When
Warren says “second reformation,” he is contrasting with the first
reformation when Christians broke away from the Catholic church
500 years ago. How can he say that a reformation from God could include Muslims
and those of other religions? And practicing homosexuals? What kind of
reformation would that be? Will it be like the one the Bible warns
about that will come in the last days when mankind will bow down to one leader
– the Antichrist. Many, many centuries ago, man
attempted to reach God ( because he considered himself
equal to God) through the tower of Babel (Genesis 11). God dispersed man
and confounded his plans because they were not plans that gave glory to the
Creator of the Universe. Is not an inter-faith plan to unite all faiths
together in order to “reach God” and heal planet earth, equally displeasing to
God? These tower of Babel plans do not bring glory to God – they attempt to
deify man. And in this newest effort by man, has not Jesus Christ been left
out? Only through the acceptance and faith in His blood atonement can any man
or woman be united with God. All other attempts are attempts to enter in
through another door: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by
the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a
thief and a robber” (John 10:1).
During
the time that Roger Oakland and his co-researchers were at the Blair/Warren
forum at Saddleback this past week, the team only heard one Bible verse mentioned.
It was quoted so quickly it was hard to recognize if it was a verse or a
paraphrase of a biblical verse. Clearly the Word of God was not included as a
crucial element in this inter-faith plan to save the world.
While
the UTT team was in attendance at the forum (they did leave a little early),
there was nothing mentioned about Jesus Christ in this global peace plan,
although Blair did say the phrase “Our Lord,” on one occasion. The shed blood
of Jesus and the finished work of the cross were never mentioned, and there was
NO gospel message given.
Although
Saddleback is considered to be a “Christian” Church and its pastor considered
by many to be America’s foremost and most influential
pastor, it was hard to tell if this was really the case
at the forum. “It seemed like we were in Babylon,” one member of the UTT
team stated as he listened to the inter-faith discussion and looked at the
flowing fountain that forms a downhill river provided as a special attraction
for those who were lining up to enter the sanctuary. Strict security measures
during the forum gave an even more foreboding atmosphere. Roger Oakland was
reminded of the heavy security that the pope is protected by with his own
secret service in Rome. By the way, many who read this article may not be aware
that Tony Blair has special entrance to see the pope of Rome now that he has
become a Roman Catholic converted away from the Anglican Church.
Indeed,
Tony Blair and Rick Warren are very important players in the coming One World
Religion.
As
an aside, Rick Warren seems to be getting thinner by the day. People entering
the sanctuary were handed an advertisement for the Daniel Diet Plan that has
been inspired and created with Rick Warren’s own
New Age gurus: Dr. Oz, Dr. Amen, and Dr. Hyman. All three Saddleback health
experts are advocates of eastern meditation. According to New Age leaders,
meditation is the vehicle through which the masses of people will enter into an
Aquarian world where man realizes his divinity and that God dwells in all
things (see
A Time of
Departing). Roger Oakland believes that this one world
government and one world religion that Rick Warren and Tony Blair are pushing
will come about through such means (read Faith
Undone). Warren himself has been promoting
contemplative mystical teachers for many years. Will this contemplative
mysticism he advocates help to bring about his Purpose Driven world?
As
to Warren’s Daniel health plan, this brings up another question: can a Baptist
become a Roman Catholic while he or she is on the Daniel weight reduction plan
if it is based on New Age methodology? How many Christians really understand
what is taking place here? Is mainstream Christianity becoming corrupted for
the sake of a PEACE Plan and the formation of the system preparing the way for
an antichrist? Is this “new” Christianity an apostate church that will lead the
way to deceiving millions? The woman who coined the term New Age, occultist Alice
Bailey, (believing that we were on the threshold of a new spiritual
awakening) said that this new enlightened age would come, not around the
Christian church, but rather through it. She said the outer layers would be
initially kept intact (i.e., Christian terminology would still be used) but the
changes would take place obscurely from the inside.1 Is this not what we are
witnessing happening today through the Purpose Driven, contemplative, emerging,
interfaith church?
Rick
Warren and Tony Blair share much in common when it comes to plans for the
world. One thing they share is their views on the problem with what they term
fundamentalism or extremism. Blair states that
“religion must be rescued from extremism and irrelevance and used as a force
for good at a time of global turmoil.” Rick Warren “predicts that
fundamentalism, of all varieties, will be ‘one of the big enemies of the 21st
century.’ ‘Muslim fundamentalism, Christian fundamentalism, Jewish
fundamentalism, secular fundamentalism – they’re all motivated by fear. Fear of each other.’” Blair and Warren discussed their views
on extremism and fundamentalism at the forum last week. Will Bible-believing
Christians be included in their definitions of f undamentalism and extremism in
the near days to come? The answer to that is becoming more
clear every day.
In a 2008 video statement,
Tony Blair described his ambition to help bring about the United Nations
Millennium Development Goals (MDG). In view of Saddleback’s recent day-long
health seminar promoting the Daniel Plan where U.N. Agenda 21 ideas such as
“sustainable living” “going green,” and “smart growth”
were used, how interesting to note Blair’s appearance just a few weeks later at
Saddleback. Is Rick Warren allowing the influence of the United Nations into
his church and possibly into tens of thousands of other churches around the
world? At the World Economic Forum in
Davos in 2008, Rick Warren claimed that he “lead[s] a very
small network of about 500,000 churches.” (40 min mark - That’s
a potential of well over 20 0 million people!).
Roger
Oakland and his team found the Peace in a Globalized Society Forum utterly
troubling, to say the least. “We will have to warn that a judgment is ahead for a “Christianity” that is not Christianity at all,”
Oakland stated after the forum. “Judgment is coming and few seem to be ready.
Titus 2: 13 tells us that “we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in
this present world” and we should have an expectancy of Christ’s return,
“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and
our Saviour Jesus Christ.” It will be glorious for those who are ready; for the
others it will be terrifying.
What is becoming more obvious everyday to some seems
amazingly hidden to mainstream Christian leaders. Not one well-known leader has
called out Rick Warren and publicly challenged him. On the contrary, there is
either silence from these leaders or worse yet a public display of embracing
and resonance (e.g.: popular teacher John Piper invited Rick Warren to speak
at his Desiring God conference. Calvary Chapel founder Chuck Smith stood in
front of thousands at Greg Laurie’s Harvest crusade and introduced Rick Warren as
his friend, allowing him to pray with the crowd). Has there been any outcry by
Christian pastors or leaders to these occurrences? No, and the silence is
deafening.
The
Bible makes it clear there is coming a false peace
plan that will be headed up by the antichrist sometime in the future. “For when
they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as
travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.” I Thessalonians
5:3
Some readers may be asking, “Why did Roger
Oakland and his co-workers attend this forum?” or “Why did Lighthouse Trails
and Roger Oakland write this report?” The answer is simple: Because we love the
Gospel and know its message is the only hope for any person. In connecting the
dots as this report attempts to do, we believe it is a biblical mandate for
believers to contend earnestly for the faith (Jude 1:3) and warn those who
are in spiritual danger. For the Bible-believing Christian, there is no
alternative, though the cost for taking a stand can be high, resulting in the
loss of friends and associates. But is it not a small price to pay in
comparison to what our Lord has done for us on the Cross?
But
if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be
not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken
away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand.
Ezekiel 33:6
There
is a peace plan coming on the earth; but it is not the Lord’s peace plan. There
is a false peace, and it will deceive many.
Because,
even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there was no
peace; Ezekiel 13:10
Destruction
cometh; and they shall seek peace, and there shall be none. Ezekiel 7:25
And
in those times there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came
in, but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the countries. II
Chronicles 15:5
*
For a detailed account of Rick Warren, Ken Blanchard, and Lighthouse Trails,
read A
“Wonderful” Deception.
Notes:
1. Alice
Bailey, The Externalization
of the Hierarchy(New York, NY: Lucis Publishing, 1976), p. 510;
from page 123 of A Time of
Departing by Ray Yungen, 2nd edition.