they do whatever is necessary." Rick Warren Tweeted 5-24-11
Rick might as well have said, "whatever it takes," like he did in Anaheim stadium back in 2005 at the Sadldleback Anniversary Party. He told the crowd listening to him then, to hold up signs that said, "Whatever it takes" as they pledged to do the same.... "whatever" it takes.
Rick gave a speech that day, saying how people in his projects had been on a secret mission:
"For the past 18 months we have been on a stealth, secret mission - project - around the world. We've been sending members out, actually over 4500 members somewhere overseas, over the period of the the last few years, going out to do what we're gonna call the PEACE plan......Friends, this is going to be a revolution. You see, over the years as we've been training these 400,000 churches around the world, we've built a network, and there are literally tens of thousands of other churches waiting to do what Saddleback has been testing the last few years.
What is the vision for the next twenty-five years? I'll tell you what it is. It is the global expansion of the Kingdom of God. It is the total mobilization of this church and the third part is the radical devotion of every believer. Now I choose that word radical intentionally. Because only radicals change the world. Everything great done in this world is done by passionate people. Moderate people get moderately nothing done.
In 1939, in a stadium much like this, in Munich Germany, they packed it out with young men and women in brown shirts, for a fanatical man standing behind a podium named Adolf Hitler, the personification of evil. And in that stadium, those in brown shirts formed with their bodies a sign that said, in the whole stadium,
"Hitler, we are yours." And they nearly took the world.
Lenin once said, "give me 100 committed, totally committed men and I'll change the world." And, he nearly did. A few years ago, they took the sayings of Chairman Mao, in China, put them in a little red book, and a group of young people committed them to memory and put it in their minds and they took that nation, the largest nation in the world by storm because they committed to memory the sayings of the Chairman Mao.
When I hear those kinds of stories, I think 'what would happen if American Christians, if world Christians, if just the Christians in this stadium, followers of Christ, would say 'Jesus, we are yours' ?
What kind of spiritual awakening would we have ?
"Jesus said, 'I want you to do this publicly.' So what I want you to do is take the card, and in just a minute, and if you say 'Rick, I am willing to serve God's purposes in my generation.'
I want you to open up to the sign that says 'Whatever it takes.'Whatever it takes.
And I want you to just say, 'This is my commitment, before God and in front of everybody else. I'm in.' "And I would invite you to just stand quietly and hold up 'Whatever it takes'. . .
I'm looking at a stadium full of people who are saying 'whatever it takes'.
Whatever it takes, God. Time, talent, energy, money, effort, vision... God, whatever it takes. Whatever it takes, that's what I'm going to do.
And I believe that today we are making history. We're making history that's going to start a movement that will bring a new Reformation in the church of God and a new spiritual awakening in our world. And, our world needs it. And today, as you say 'whatever it takes,' you're saying publicly,
"I'm in, God. I'm in...
...I'm in.' "
...
That was Rick Warren speaking, April 17, 2005, Anaheim Stadium. It has been a few years, but Rick has not changed his tune. Seems he thinks those great leaders he mentioned... Hitler, Stalin and Mao, simply did what they had to do. It was their "leaership" (you know) that made them "great." Of course Rick wants to Christianize his concept, so he tells people to dedicate themselves to "JEsus" in this way, but why does he use Hitler and Stalin as examples of leadership and the greatness one can achieve through service.... doing, "whatever" it takes, to meet the end goal. This is not Christian ways of thinking, the ends does not always justify the means.
Looking at Rick Warren's other recent tweets, I just want to say that am currently unimpressed that he has set himself up as some sort of wisdom guru as he tweets his own quips and quotes on life.. and most of which is in reguard to this idea, or concept of "leadership." HE is making an army of leaders. Fynny thing, is that JEsus called us Christians to be followers and doers.... of the word.
What really kind of amazes me about Rick, even today, is that he seems to have a sort of "talent" or art in stroking the parts of a person psychologists call, "the Ego," and he uses it often. He talks about the greatness one can achieve... the greatness YOU can achieve... but then, it's not about you. I believe he uses this special art form quite effectively. He knows how to get those with itching ears to heed his guru-like beck and call. People in the crowd that day, held up signs to the world and told God, they would do "WHATEVER it takes" whatever is necessary, but "whatever" is a very big word, and it includes more than simply what is right, noble, holy, good, pure, lovely.... etc.
I fear, that in the end, all those itching ears, people in the church in particular, who found themselves seeking greatness... maybe even seeking to do something great "for God".....will discover that they forsook the scriptures in order to listen to Rick, embraced this PEACE Plan and false, grand, wisdom and vision for the church and the world. I wonder if those dreamers will wake up one day and find themselves without an anchor to the truth, reading the purpose driven life instead of the bible, wondering, "What on earth went wrong?"
"Leaders don't do what they WANT to do;
they do whatever is necessary."
Other recent Rick Warren tweets:
"The greatest leaders are those who develop followers who exceed their own skills & impact. It's not about you." Rick Warren 5-24-11
So.. who is "it" about? Rick doesn't mention that... just that it is not about YOU.--- and, what is "it" anyhow? One thing is certain, Jesus died for YOU.... (and everyone else in the wolrd.)
"Believe on JEsus and you will be saved." That is what the scripture tells us.
In a way it is about YOU....In't it?
"There are no secrets to success.The principles are visible to anyone who invests the time study those who've succeeded." Rick Warren 5-23-11
So... if you you do not KNOW the principals, it's your own fault, because you didn;t
take the time to study those who have succeeded...
and one of those is obviously
YOU KNOW WHO....
JEsus.... is probably not who he is talking about,
for if he were he would have mentioned him by name, and the funny thing is that Rick all always talking about "secrets" for being successful in his messages,
which makes statements like this manipulative, at best.
"God made your mind to be a storehouse of wisdom, not an outhouse of waste. Stop filling it with crap from our culture." Rick Warren, 5-22-11
Now I do not know about you, but in my opinion, this is rather rude and crude. Besides, "crap" is not
a very nice word to be flinging about at someone listening to or reading your words. I mean, he could have been more precise and said, "desrtuctive" or "disgusting"
but he didn't, he just resorted to the base word, "c---."
I happen to live in a Christianized culture, and as such, there are a lot of good things and these are the things I tend to try to focus on. How about you? I am reminded that not every "culture" is bad. This is nothing more than a blanket statement, a platitude, and really, it only serves to lump all sorts of thing to gether, some of which do not fit into the works. It can serve as a trick to the mind, and leaves me to wonder, what culture, he is talking about.
He does not say; so it is whatever culture you have in your mind.
Rick , if he is Christian, would do better to feed the sheep who hear his speak
on the word of God, but he seldom does. Instead, we get earthly, "leadership" wisdom, and examples to look to of leadership like Hitler, Stalin and Mau.
"You need Jesus as your Savior, Lord & Best Friend not because you'll die tonight but because you've got to live tomorrow." Rick Warren, 5-21-11
Consider....
IS he saying living your life tomorrow,
(not death and the eternal life JEsus gives us when we die)
is the reason you need Jesus?
Tricky Rick.
Why is he saying it like this? Could it be because it is what he believes?
"There's no elevator to the top 4 effective ministry.You must climb every painful step to develop your character&competence" Rick Warren 5-18-11
So, according to Rick, it's about you and what you do.
It's about you being great... (at the top)
"You have to "climb every painful step
to develop your character and competence."
No one else is going to do that for you. So take the bull by the horns and get climbing!
That is, if you want to have an effective ministry and be at the top like he is
This, I believe, is worldly wisdom, a bit Pharisaical too. It kinda misses the whole point of submitting to God. It fails to acknowledgedoing what we do, not in our own strength and power, but in
His (God's) strength, His might, His power....the strength he gives us,
and not our own.
Yes, we must strive to develop character, which comes from submitting to doing what is right
and saying no to temptation. We do desire to be trust worthy, responsible people,
but this all comes by submission to God and to his word.
Most importantly, we must remember that God's word is always "effective."
ISAIAH 55:11
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth:
it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish
that which I please, and it shall prosper
[in the thing] whereto I sent it.
A prosperous, and "effective ministry," a true effective ministry, is one that preaches the word and believes God. It is one that believes the wisdom and power of God to move any mountain...
and raise the dead..
