Evaluating 40 Days of Community

I recently came across an article by Bill Berkowitz (thanks to Roger Oakland) in a publication titled "Working for Change," a publication of a secular activist organization named "Working Assets." Bill Berkowitz is a longtime observer of the conservative movement. You can find the article here. The following are some interesting highlights from the article that I want to highlight and comment on:

Here is what a handful of mainstream publications are saying about
[Rick Warren] (these quotes are prominently displayed at his website):

• The Economist - "arguably the most influential pastor
  in America."
• The Times (London) - "Business and political leaders across America are turning to [him] for guidance."
• Forbes - "Were it a business, Saddleback Church would be compared with Dell, Google or Starbucks."
• ABC News - "The Purpose Driven Life is the epicenter of a spiritual shockwave taking root across America in unlikely places like offices and university campuses. It has become a movement."

These accolades from the world are concerning to me because of Jesus' words in John 15:18-21 (NASB): "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, 'A slave is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me."

Why is it that the world seems to love Rick Warren?

Promoting the P.E.A.C.E. agenda

Like many Christian evangelicals/missionaries before him, Rick Warren, the son of a Southern Baptist preacher, has a grand vision. However, unlike most of his predecessors, Warren has a robust array of skills and resources: He is smart, media savvy, has a well-honed business sense, is fully conscious of the power of the Internet, knows how to manage his message, and has an impressive cash flow -- according to Warren, much of the money generated by the sales of his books goes to his Acts of Mercy Foundation. Warren and his wife are also contribute to and are deeply involved in the worldwide fight against HIV/AIDS.

Warren's agenda revolves around "attacking what he calls the five 'Global Goliaths': spiritual emptiness -- "[People] don't know God made them for a purpose"; egocentric leadership -- "The world is full of little Saddams. Most people cannot handle power. It goes to their heads"; extreme poverty -- "Half the world lives on less than $2 per day"; pandemic disease -- "We have billions of people dying from preventable disease. That's unconscionable"; and illiteracy/poor education -- "Half the world is functionally illiterate."

"His goal is a second Reformation by restoring responsibility in people, credibility in churches, and civility in culture."

To attack these evils, he has developed what he has called a PEACE agenda:

• Plant new churches, or partner with existing ones.
• Equip leaders.
• Assist the poor.
• Care for the sick.
• Educate the next generation.

Somehow I thought that perhaps Evangelism or making disciples would be key items in Rick's P.E.A.C.E. plan, but this does not seem to be the case. I know that we are to be peacemakers (Matt 5:9), but it doesn't seem to me that we are to try and reform the world, but rather make peace between people and God by exhorting people to repent and telling them the gospel. I cannot help but be reminded of 1 Thess 5:3 (NASB) which says "While they are saying, 'Peace and safety!' then destruction will come upon them suddently like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape." Jesus never proclaimed peace on this earth. In fact, He tells us plainly: "Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword" (Matt 10:34, NASB). How much clearer could He be? And this is not the sword of Islam for Jesus said "for all who take the sword shall perish with a sword" (Matt 26:52, NASB). Rather, it is the sword of the Word which divides people from one another, the believing from the unbelieving. Rick seems to be doing something altogether different; there seems to me to be a proclamation of peace on the earth and a blending of the world into the church. This next comment from a professor of socilogy of religion seems to confirm my assessment:

Besides being amongst the most influential evangelical leaders, Scott L. Thumma, a professor of the sociology of religion at Hartford Seminary and the author of a forthcoming book on mega-churches, told Nussbaum, "one of the interesting things is that he crosses boundaries...he's not just respected by the evangelical world but by many outside that world."

The following quote is the Author's note of the church movement currently underway resulting in the undoing of the reformation for which many laid down their lives. The odd thing is that the Roman Catholic church has not recanted the anathemas of Vatican I which condemn many things protestants believe, like salvation by faith alone, and it is also still practicing indulgences--the very reason Luther posted his ninety-five theses.

Then the other story that I would encourage you to look at is this evolving alliance between evangelical Protestants and Catholics, particularly in the evangelical wing of Catholicism.

The following quote amazed me--that a secular organization like Starbuck's has replaced Bruce Springsteen with "spiritual" quotes from Rick Warren on their coffee cups!

Last year, the sale of Bruce Springsteen's album "Devils & Dust" -- which describes an explicit encounter with a prostitute in the song 'Reno' -- was banned by Starbucks. This year, according to a Knight Ridder report, "Starbucks will print spiritual quotes from the Rev. Rick Warren, author of the best-selling "The Purpose-Driven Life," on coffee cups."