Rick Was Wrong.

“You’ve heard me say many times that the greatest thing you can do with your life is tell somebody about Jesus … if you help somebody secure their eternal destiny, that they spend the rest of their life in Heaven not Hell …your life counts, your life matters because nothing matters more than helping get a person and their eternal destiny settled. They will be forever eternally grateful… And I’ve always said that that was the greatest thing you can do with your life.... I was wrong. ”

 Sunday Sermon at Saddleback Church, 11/2003  Rick Warren announces Global Peace Plan

Dreaming with Rick Warren

Rick wants to know if you have a "dream."  If you don't, then you should be asking God to give you one of his... and then, you follow your dream.  (Hmmmm.  This all should make one wonder "what on earth" Rick is teaching people.  Did Jesus Christ ever tell those disciples of his to "follow their dreams?  Did JEsus teach them to pray and ask God to give them a dream that he could fulfill for them?  No. However, Rick here, wants to teach his readers these things.  In fact, he tells them here, how to have faith... in your dream and the Six Phases of Faith that it takes in order for your dreams to come true for you.

And what are the Six Phases of Faith?
Dream,
         Decision, 
                  Delay, 
                         Difficulty, 
                                                      Dead End.... and finally,
                                                                    Deliverance!

Saved by your faith... in your DREAMS! (???)

From RickWarren.com
The Six Phases of Faith by Rick Warren
5-30-2010

"Do I have a dream planted in me by God? If you don't have a dream, start praying, "God give me your dream." Rick Warren

"Some of you have a dream from God, but you haven't made a decision to follow it. "  Rick Warren

" What has caused my dream to be delayed?" Rick Warren

"What difficulties have I faced waiting for the dream to be fulfilled?" Rick Warren

" "According to your faith will it be done to you." (Matthew 9:29 NIV) God is faithful. What he tells us to do, he will do. But it doesn't happen overnight. " Rick Warren

Every Word That Proceeds From the Mouth of God

"Jesus demands greater allegiance than any dictator would dare ask. But as God, he deserves it & no one will ever love u more." 
Tweeted by  Rick Warren, January 2012  

 "Demands" greater allegiance than a dictator?

Jesus is not a dictator, nor should he be compared as to one.

Jesus is not a tyrant taskmaster 

DEMANDING anything of you.

(Satan , on the other hand, is demanding and he hate's God's Word.)

By the way, just how much allegiance  "dare" a dictator ask anyhow? 

Do you know any dictators who have the scruples to be careful 

as to how much allegiance they "ask" of you 

or rather, how much they demand? 

"Fake Christianity is just a bunch of words, REAL Christianity is love in action."
Tweeted by Rick Warren, January 2012

"Just" a bunch of words?   

A Christianity that  preaches  words... reads words and believes God's Word, 

 might seem like "nothing but a big mouth" to some people, 

but Jesus told Satan, "Man does not live on bread alone."

Must have been a reason for that.

As as for action...

Love in action is best displayed and seen in Jesus,

His love in action,

 dying on the cross,

 forgiving,

 and raising from the dead

according to the very word

 and promise of our God.

"The glory of God is a human being fully alive!"

St. Irenaeus

Tweeted by Rick Warren, January 2012

Is this tweet intended to promote some kind of radical

Christian humanistic thinking, or faith in the person of Jesus Christ?

One can only  assume or guess.

Ireaneas, bishop of Lyons,

taught about Jesus and Christian doctrine 

from the writing of the apostles

available to him in his day.

Why is Rick even tweeting this "quote" of Iraneuas?

"Pain is the mother of change." 

Tweeted by Rick Warren, January 2012

Some people embrace that teaching,  but... 

God does not change, like shifting shadows.

No.  he is the same, yesterday today and forever.

Pain didn't change Jesus as he hungered in the wilderness for 40 days

or when he died and ugly death on Calvary's cross.

We have also seen Christian martyrs, 

refusing to "change" what they believe about God..

under the influence of pain....

 tortured for their faith in Christ,

dipped in oil, 

sawed in two,

 beheaded... 

not for a crime of sin, but simply for their faith in Jesus.

 Many were killed by men, who thought 

they were doing humanity (or  "God") a favor,

doing something "good," 

believing too the notion that   

 pain....would be the mother of change.

They  were evidently wrong.

"You get God's power IN your life by surrendering to God's purpose FOR your life."

Tweeted by Rick Warren, January 2012

I would appear that Rick Warren, 

the prince of "purpose," wants YOU to surrender 

your life to God's purpose, 

All five of them as defined, explained, outlined,

by Pastor Rick,

who knows all about the stuff...

Then you will get "power."

Let's look at Luke, Chapter 4 where JEsus was being tempted for forty days in the wilderness... and where Jesus God his power.

And the devil said unto him, "All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine."

 And Jesus answered and said unto him, "Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve."

"God's Prescription?"

Sick?
Unhealthy?
  Feeling empty, run-down,
 upside down...
a little round?

Feeling blue?

Listen up, little cup...You're vulnerable, and Rick Warren has a  Daniel Plan,  for you.

Advertised as,  "God's Prescription for your health!"  and with a year in the implementing at Saddleback Community Church, it's definitely a plan, but is it really a plan prescribed by God?  Rick thinks so; and  he markets it that way.

Concerned for peoples mental, physical, and spiritual well-being  Rick Warren has hatched yet another plan for you and your life. He began promoting his clever plan in his own church last year, to make everyone  healthy, balanced and fit. He enlisted the three wisest men he could find, called it the "Daniel Plan" and jumped right in.

Rick's three wise friends are doctors, each claimed to be experts in their own perspective fields regard "health." The three are highly publicized, best-selling authors, just like Pastor Rick.  They are not only his personal friends, but supposedly co-creators in the project designed for Warren's congregation, and their names are  Daniel Amen, Mark Hyman and Mehmet Oz,  Rick makes it look biblical and sound biblical... but here is an interesting twist.  "God's prescription" is not about learning from Jesus, or the apostles, but comes from getting information from Pastor Rick and friends.  In fact, the first thing one can expect when beginning the Daniel Plan is to be spending time reading materials published by these guys, learning from them, taking in all of their expert advice regarding eating and exercise, so that your everyday lives are soon reflecting the wisdom of these great men.

Rick tells his hearers that the Daniel Plan is God's prescription and that it was inspired by the book of Daniel in the Bible, and tells a little story about how he, and overweight Rick, decided many people in his church were fat.  Wanting to see a change in himself and help his church be healthy, he sought some help from the worlds wisest men.... Amen, Hyman and Oz, and...Whalla!  Out popped the Daniel Plan, a  collaborative effort of Rick Warren and his three wise men.

We are led to believe Rick is the instigator and that it is just Rick and these three helpers of his, who have worked on implementing this, but rest assured, this is no simple project.  There is publishing to manage, the writing of program materials for participants as well as  a 52 week curriculum plan with sermons, and computer programs to collect and store and analyze all the data from individual people who participate in the plan.   It seems as if just overnight, Rick single-handedly, (well maybe with the help of his three benevolent friends, came up with this grandiose clinical study where you can gather all sorts of pertinent information about a populace and put it into your database....and hand feed them information, news and products, daily... monthly.... weekly, and all on line!. (OOPS! ) "plan" to help people in the church be healthy and obey God, just like Daniel in the Bible did!

Do you  notice that the story of Daniel in the Bible is a little different than the Daniel Plan of Rick's?   In the Bible we do not see Daniel sitting under the feet of the wise men, consulting them about what he should eat and not eat or about what he should think and he should do?  The wise men in the Daniel story were  magicians, enchanters, diviners, seers, sorcerers... experts in all-things-Babylon, but Daniel, instead of inquiring of them, instead of conforming to their thinking, their wisdom, conformed his thinking to the ways of God.  Reading the book of Daniel, we even see Daniel's special God-given wisdom, put all the wisdom of the king's wise men to shame.... so why does Rick's Daniel Plan have people listening instead to his personally selected "wise" men?

Apparently, Rick thinks these people should be listened to by people in the church.  After all, as he says, "The Bible says, God wants you to be as healthy physically as you are spiritually," and apparently, Rick believes that their wisdom will help him be healthy physically, and help him bring more people into his church too.  Rick says, without apology, "This is God's prescription for your health,"

God's Prescription?  Really?  God who?  Daniel's God?  The one he believed in and devoted himself to daily?  Really?

If you were to do the Daniel Plan of Rick's, you would be spending valuable time and money reading  and learning  from these high profile men instead of the Bible.  You would buy their books, watch their television programs webcasts, videos and be busy implementing their "expert" teachings into your life.  You would probably be marketed via email, web advertisement on your Daniel Plan account and in your church bulletin and in your church lobby to buy their books, nutritional supplies, products and services on a regular basis too, with new celebrity wise men added occasionally too.  Then seeing the results of their wise expertise, you too would be smart, knowledgeable, savvy on matters of health and human well-being... as they teach it.

 At the end of the fifty two weeks, you would be well-versed in everything these wise men teach regarding the health of your body, your mind and soul as well as the failures of western medicine, what really causes disease, and how to look at your spirituality and your life.  :Little, if anything will you lean information about having faith in the one true and living God.  The reason is that, like the wise men in the biblical story of Daniel,
Rick Warren's wise men do not submit to God.

Daniel of the Bible, however,did.

Rick, teaches his hearers about Daniel; after all, this program is the Daniel Plan.  He says, "For Daniel, what he ate was connected to his faith in God.  He knew the only way to honor God with his body was to refuse the rich food from the king's table."  Rick makes it sound as if Daniel was declining the food because it was "rich." (Not the reason at all.)  So, in participating, for 52 weeks, in the Daniel Plan,  what you get, along with the wisdom of Ricks hand selected wise men, is bible teaching... from Rick!  

Rick will tell that what Daniel ate was connect to his faith in God and that the only way for Daniel to honor God with his body was to refuse to eat the kings rich food, but it wasn't simply because the food was too rich, fattening, or unhealthy that Daniel refused to eat from the King's table. It was because Daniel knew that the food the king was providing Daniel had been sacrificed to the many diverse religious idols they worshiped in the land of Babylon.  Rick teaches something completely different than what the Bible says.

Also, Daniel didn't simply "refuse the rich food" or" refuse to compromise," (Daniel asked politely to be excused.)  Why is it that Saddleback Church staff and Rick Warren is encouraging people, to "Be like Daniel, and refuse to compromise!"  (See Session 6 of the Daniel plan.) and then, while claiming not to compromise,(using Daniel as our example,) does Rick Warren purposefully yoke himself and his hearers to the teaching and training of these three men?


Daniel Amen, says he is a Christian, and as such he teaches people that they need to have a brain-soul connection.  He writes books so that people can learn from him how to be smarter, use more of their brain and help their brain and soul connect.  He says, in his book, Change Your Brain, Change Your Mind, that without optimal brain function, it's "hard to be successful in any aspect of your life... including your feelings about God." (pg. 8.)


According to Amen, people struggling with things like "moodiness" and "negativity," do so because the "deep limbic center" of their brain,( a part that controls your bonding with other people and your moods,)  is "off kitler."  (Hmmm... limbic center?) That is interesting.  This kinda sound a little like Rick Warren saying the church is not balanced properly, (or that the body of Christ is such that the hands and feet (limbs) have been amputated, and we are just a big mouth,") Rick believes Amen is the number one, world-class brain expert in the nation, and that people who want to have a healthy, happy brain, and mind, especially those in the Church who want to be "healthy"should listen, and learn from Dr. Amen.


Rick also enlisted a man named Mark Hyman to help with the metabolic side of loosing weight and gaining health. Hyman is not a professing "Christian," like Amen is, but as Rick's doctor, personally selected by Rick to help him get his "mind, body and health" in shape, Rick decided to let Dr. Hyman teach his "healthy" practices, not just to him, but also to his church..


Hyman advocates what he calls,  Functional Medicine,  (FM) which he says, "is the bridge that connects the dots between the whole story of medical science."  FM which had it's start in the 1990's, is something akin to Integrated Nutrition; or Integrated Medicine, both ideas that are intended to incorporate medical care of a person's body or physical being with the  mind and spirit too.  Hyman teaches that in FM, there are seven core imbalances that, (much like the five purposes of church, as Rick teaches in his purpose drive church model) "have to be balanced systems or else... your body, can't be "healthy".

Like many other people, who have a cause to promote, Hyman enthusiastically works to sell and promote his cause and his cookbooks and nutritional books and his nutritional supplements to go along with his books, and his general expertise in ultra wellness as well as his political worldview about how the health of our planet is linked to the health of our diet...as well as his counseling and  health coaching  services; and now also through his Daniel Plan association with Pastor Rick! 
  
Mehmet Oz, the third wise man in the bunch, also is not a professing Christian.  This doesn't really matter to Rick either.  Dispite this man's religious beliefs, Rick has yoked up with him  too and for the last year, Oz has been co-leading the Orange County, Purpose-Driven Church, along with Drs. Amen and Hyman, into "optimal health."  And while Oz may not be a Christian by profession, he does seem to be a very spiritual man.


Oz, a heart specialist by vocation, appears on a nationally syndicated television show from which he practicalizes  medicine and disseminates information about many health issues for his audiences.  His show teaches people watching television in America various facts and figures about health.  Interestingly,  he is well-versed in and promotes to his television viewers a lot of spiritual practices, making practices like Reiki, necromancy and hypnosis, common household terms and even suggesting people try them, like he did, sometimes  as complimentary medicine.   Oz is a spiritual man, but not Christian, and yet, Rick Warren promotes listening to Oz to Hyman and Amen, in order to obtain  "God" prescribed "health."  


When asked by skeptics about his enlisting these three men, and in particular, men with religious beliefs that stand in opposition to Christianity, in his planning and  propagating the Daniel Plan, Rick defended his choices.  In this Christian Post article, Rick said, "If I have a brain tumor, I find the best brain surgeon I can find.  I'm not asking what his background is or what his belief is... If you're dying, you might even let an atheist save your life."  Apparently, for Rick it is not an issue if these men are believers or not believers in the Lord Jesus Christ or not.  All that matters is that they can help to save your life.  Besides, they are the wise men, experts, the best in their fields.  Their advice is, to  to Rick, part of the Daniel Plan,  "God's prescription for your health."


If you are not believing Rick about now, here is some good news.... God's prescription for Christians today is the same as it was for Daniel of the Bible. knowing God and His Word and putting faith and trust in only Him.


Christian see Daniel's God displayed in Jesus Christ who they believe is God incarnate, and who, as God, took away their sin when he died according to the scriptures and in three days, rose again.  Daniel, captive in Babylon, faced many pressures, he encountered many situations wherewith he had to respond in faith, believing, trusting and honoring God and as a man of faith Daniel was given wisdom, health and deliverance from his trials and tribulation.  Daniel, in a land where people thought you could serve any god of your own choosing or making, remained subject to only One, the true and living God.  


 Isn't it strange that this "Daniel Plan of Warren, Amen, Hyman and Oz, has little or nothing to do with the Biblical example of "Daniel," and in terms of religious beliefs of these men , the Bible and God's plan to redeem or save humans through faith in Christ, God's only begotten Son, is just not that  important?  Apparently, faith in the one true God doesn't matter, all that matters is that you listen to these wise man and learn from them so you can experience physical, mental and "spiritual" health.

The plan these four hatched for Saddleback and all its initiates affiliates, continues into 2012.  Daniel Amen says,( at the end of his October 2011, Huffington Post article, ) that they plan to "export  the plan to other churches, temples and mosques."    He says, " The Daniel Plan is not just a Christian plan.  It is a plan to get the world healthy where people gather."

New Year and New Year's Resolutions

The Daniel Plan will celebrate one year of existence, and with the new year being 2012, Ricks helping those Daniel Planers (his program participants) with a long list of resolutions they can resolve to keep.


It will take them a lot of will power to keep perfectly such a long list.   Don;t you think?
See: 2012 Daniel Plan resolution (or rather,..." manifesto")

To read more about the Daniel Plan, from an interesting perspective try this link... here.  Read:  At a Big Church, a Small Group Health Solution by Tina Rosenberg

Learn, Love and Live the Bible. 40 Days In The Word.

At the onset of his new 40 day program, Rick Warren says,  "Too many of God's people do not really believe God's Word or don't do God's Word."  Are you one of those people of God who do not "really" believe God's word?  If so, Rick Warren has a 40 day program formulated just for you.

Generally speaking, the term "God's people" is used to refer to those who do believe in God, those who read and believe His Word, who sing songs of worship to God and songs about God's grace, songs, for example, like the song, "Amazing Grace."  This is because "God's people" believe the words of Ephesians 2:8 and 9, which says that it is "by grace you have been saved," or as the King James puts it, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast."  But again, we hear Rick complaining that "God's people do not "do" God's Word.

 It sure sounds like he is accusing the brethren... accusing them of not believing God enough.  That's odd.  A pastor should be expected to encourage the faithful, instead Rick makes a bold accusation to them, against them. He simply pinpoints a precise and very conclusive problem, and wouldn't you know, just like magic, he becomes the solver of that problem for you!  The plan he already has packed in his pocket, should you be so wise to listen to him, is none other than his latest program for churches, called  40 Days in the Word.  All you have to do is put him in charge, for a fee, and as the Saddleback ad banner says, "40 Days in the Word will transform your hearers, into doers."

The apostle Paul warned the church about those who would come to the church already established, preaching "another gospel."

Obviously distressed about those who departed from the truth, he reminded them that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, and he reminded them "even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified."  Then he told them, Even if we or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed."

To make sure they didn't misunderstand Paul then reiterated, "As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ." It's the kind of thing that makes one wonder where they should be getting their information from... God?  or man?


Rick's offer is 40 Days in the Word.  But while being "In the Word" sure sounds biblical, and 40 days of something positive to do with all your friends has appeal, before you trade your bible for a workbook and video of Rick, consider Paul's warning to the Galatians.  Test yourself to see if you are in the faith, the faith once delivered unto all the saints, (Jude :3)  Do you believe, have you believed the precious gospel of the grace of God in Christ, which comes by hearing and by "faith," or do you think that you need to purchase Rick's solution to help you and your wayward church learn the Word, Love the Word, and Live the Word, "like never before."

God's people have, all these years of history, consisted of people who were "in" God's Word.  Jews gathered for hearing scriptures read and performing the sacrifices required by law.  Christians too, attend church in order to hear what the Bible says, to pray,and remember God... and the sacrifice Jesus, the Lamb of God,  made for our sin, upon the cross.   Not only that, but the Church is known for considering the scriptures as a key instructor  about God, his promises and the salvation we profess, believe and proclaim.

Whether it's a sermon, or Sunday school lesson in how God worked in the history of days past through the prophets or through the apostles, or a meeting on prophesy to speculate what the future holds for those who believe on Him today, the Bible is, in all it's various forms and translations, the very thing which resides at the church's core.  So what on earth is Rick Warren talking about?


The truth is, that regardless of what Christian "church" you attend, the Bible and all it contains for our edification is the focus of our Sunday schools, mid-week services, youth groups, children's ministries and catechisms that are intended teach us the Christian faith.   Also true is the fact that Christians, of every tongue and tribe and nation, believe in Jesus because they have heard of the things written down, passed on from generation to generation through time, and preserved in God's holy book.  It's ironic, but if your church happens to have doubters, Rick offers to replace the old ways of doing things at your church with new ones, and your bible, he will gladly replace with his sermons, books, small group studies and individual daily devotions, all-church programs, as well as youth and children’s materials, that is, of course, for a fee.

As mentioned already, Rick's latest program is called, Forty Days in the Word; but it is more than a "program."  For  Rick calls it, "a campaign."

In a March 2009 interview on AGTV, with the Superintendent for the Assemblies of God churches, George Wood, Rick told the listening audience where he got the inspiring idea for his 40 Days "campaigns." He said he learned it "from the Communists, (of all people!)"  Rick has talked openly about this in several interviews, even recommended the book he learned his great idea from to other pastors  to read.  Enlightened, Rick simply began to put the information to his own good use upon the church and strategically positioned himself to be the information hub for pastors of every and any denomination.

Like his many other campaigns, Rick calls this one, a "leadership factory." If you are inclined to greatness, rest assured, he will make a "leader" out of you, and in Rick's programs, as well as Saddleback Church, you do not even have to be a Christian to lead a group.  Once you catch his vision, pull out your credit card and accept his invitation to be a member of his team, all you have to do is invite your friends and plug in a DVD where Rick does all the teaching for you; then in six weeks time, you'll be making others into "leaders" just like you.


The non-returnable, "40 Days in the Word Campaign Preview Kit" contains "samples" of all the materials your church members and small groups will use if they participate in this campaign and it is a mere  $159.00, (unless of course, you get the current  "coupon" sale deal of $79.99.)  You will simply add to this sample kit as time goes by, purchasing additional videos, workbooks and sermons from Pastor Rick's pastors.com website or Saddleback Resources, if needed.  The larger portion of the total cost of the program, will of course, be the consumable workbooks paid for by the individual members of your churches community, as directed by their pastors to do, and of course, once  your church members align successfully with Rick, they will probably continue doing church like never before as well.  The  Campaign Success Guide for Leaders, pg 34, says after you finish this six week program, you'll then be ready to order the next curriculum.

So Christian believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, what book will you be using to read from in church this week?  Will the sermons be something from God's word and inspired by the Holy Spirit  or will you be preached from the pulpit a sermon preached previously by Rick or watch a sermons via Saddleback simulcast from Orange County California?  More importantly, do you believe the gospel that the Bible contains and teaches clearly, particularly as it has been recorded by eyewitnesses to the majesty of God, or are you a doubter... one easily tossed to and fro by every wave and wind of doctrine that blows your way?  Can you be persuaded to replace your bible, weekly sermons and church Sunday school lessons with the shrewdly marketed products from this man?

And what does Rick Warren teach?  It is the gospel truth about God's promises and His Son Jesus Christ, or is it another gospel, (one that really is no gospel at all?) Will you be like a noble Berean and search the scriptures daily to see if what someone tells you is really true?  Some, it seems will, like the Galatians be quick to fall away from the one who calls us into grace but others will hold fast to what is true and contend for the faith once delivers to all the saints.

Christian remember, Jesus prayed for you and for me.

John Chapter 17  Jesus's prayer:
^"...For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them."


 Rick Warren routinely teaches "God's People" using lots of his own "words" but repeatedly fails to teach and preach  "the Gospel" as it is clearly presented in God's Word.

Sample One
Sample Two
Sample Three

Remember those Bereans of ancient days who received the word of God as preached by Paul and the other apostles.  We are told that they received the word of God he preached with, "all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so" (Acts 17:11)

James tells us clearly (verses 18, or even 24) that "faith without works is dead," and we who believe God's word would do well to heed what the Word rightly says.

Test yourselves; Are you a respecter of persons?  When someone is claimed and hailed as important or influential, looked up to as rich and famous, even labeled one of "100 Most Influential People in the World,"or one of the top "15 People Who Make America Great, will that impress you?  Will that make the person more important to you than the person riding next to you on the city bus?

Are you partial to yourselves, to your own likes and dislikes when it comes to things like music, hair-length, jewelry, or fashionable dress?   And, what do you defend in public, the brethren of the Lord, or evil doers and to what end? And, are you ashamed to admit belief in fundamental Bible truths and teachings on subjects like hell and that there is salvation in no other name but Jesus Christ?  Do you labor to tell sinners that they need to find their purpose or work to make disciples who repent of sin and believe on Jesus Christ?

James is right.  Faith professed, is just professed faith; and faith for faith's sake, faith that has no roots and shows no fruit of the faithful, is simply, dead.  But the good news is, a little is a lot.  When it comes to faith, all you need is faith the size of the grain of a mustard seed.  (Matthew 17:20)

If you profess to believe in Jesus and in God's Word, but do grasp on to what it means with your mind and with your heart, you are vulnerable to deception.  If you know it, but ignore what Jesus and the apostles taught, did and said, it is highly likely, that much like those foolish and "bewitched" Galatians, you too, will soon be marching to the tune of a different drum, or be under the spell of some highfaluting "pied" piper.  It's possible too that like Rick Warren says, if you don't "really" believe God's Word, you'll find yourself following some outspoken preacher/teacher who makes bold claims that there is a "problem," in your "unhealthy" little church, (and only he and his wisdom about churches and the Bible, can begin to fix.) 

Luke 12:32

"Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."

Rick Warren Poem Here.

40 Days in the Word - Intoductory Letter

Wow!  Another campaign from Rick Warren and friends.  It's called, 40 Days in the Word.

What caught my attention was the introductory letter in his sample preview, where Rick stresses the importance of the habit of being in God's word.  He tells readers that a "healthy" disciple of Jesus will be feeding on God's word, and that doing just that is to be your number one priority!

He's got a good point, doesn't he?   Does he?

I means check-out the strange adjectives he likes to use. What, exactly, is a "healthy disciple?"

Seriously, have you ever noticed how that in Rick's dichotomy, all disciples of Jesus are earmarked as either "healthy" or "unhealthy"?  And, if you want to be earmarked as a "healthy" anything, then you must most certainly have learned how to be "healthy" from Rick!  (Anyone who wants to be "healthy" instead of "unhealthy " is urged by Rick to do this.)  It's also interesting that he thinks of reading the Bible, not just as a means of it's life-giving properties and the individual gaining knowledge of the Holy One, but as a "habit." 

His choice of and uses of words and of the Bible in it's many translations and renderings are strange too.

Rick informs letter readers, that when it comes to being "In the Word," Jesus called it, "abiding."  He also quotes John 8:31 to make sure he proved that point.  However, my NASB read John 3:31 as. "If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of mine." Some other versions say that, but the NASB as quoted is actually missing the word "abide."

I cannot help but note that Rick also tells us the Bible must be a standard of authority, a , a counsel and a benchmark, something that we use for wisdom, guidance and decision making.  He tells us that the Bible must always have the first and last words in our lives.  Fascinating to me is that Rick cannot even decide what Bible to use. It appears that Pastor Rick simply makes use of whatever Bible translation he happens to best for his desired outcome in making a particular point.

In his short introductory letter he quotes three different Bible translations, the NIV the KJV and the NASB.  Apparently, none of these translations really has any authority.  It is as if they all are simply wielded about under Rick's command, used by him to say whatever he wants them to say at the moment.  While your amazed by his feat of juggling them all before you, you might not realize he is just amking them say what he wants them to say to you.  The bible is not longer the authority; Rick is.

Rick did make a point to note each translation he quoted, but he got the "NASB" which he quoted for John 3:31 wrong.  The word "abide" is used in other versions for that particular verse, but not in the NASB.  


Rick says,
"By the end of our forty days together, my goal is to help you Love the Word of God like you have never loved it before, learn the word of God like you have never learned it before, live the word of God like you have never lived it before."

Rick, as usual,  uses a lot of superlatives.  He asserts that this journey with him teaching you will be beneficial, so beneficial that it will surpass everything you have ever done.  
He will, (apparently,) have you learning, loving and living God's word, like you 
have "never" learned, loved or lived God's Word before.

Do you supposed it's something completely new and different?  Do you suppose it's possible that he is teaching something new and different than the gospel you have already received?
Hmmm.   What else does Rick say?

I realize this is just a snippet, but Rick says:

"God never intended Bible Study just to increase our knowledge."

IT makes one think that when God intended for you to be doing those Bible studies
  he had didn't intended to "just increase your knowledge,"
(Perhaps Rick is right, but what did he intend to do?)  

 Rick tells us, 

God's word is not meant to "just inform you, but to transform you."

Funny.  Seems he is telling the church that they need to change, to be "transformed."
It is also as if he is complaining about this thing called "knowledge."
and this, after going on about how important abiding in the word is.  
After all, he just told us that the Bible has to be like our compass and our guide.

 
Before dismissing knowledge, check out Romans 10:2.  
Apparently, it is possible to have a zeal for God without knowledge.
And about that  'transformation;" Doesn;t he make it sound as if the churches he is talking to have not been transformed from darkness into light, death into life?

i mean, you might say that Christians, who have been "born again," who have believed on the One whom God sent to save us from sin and death, have already been "transformed." 
But Rick doesn't say that.  He does not even suggest it. 
No, there's Rick, insisting that the church needs the adjective "healthy" and that it is the church that needs to be "transformed."

Not only that, but because the church agrees with Rick that they need him to 
transform them, he is prepared to teach them to do things 
like they have never done them before! 

But is what Rick saying the same thing that the scripture teaches?
He tells us,

"Reading, researching, remembering, reflecting on the Bible is useless if we fail to put God's Word into practice."

It sounds about right, but not quite right.  I mean, 
do you suppose that any of these things, 
that all just happen to start with the letter "R," 

"Reading,"                                                            

"Researching,"                                   

"Remembering,"                                             

"or Reflecting "                            

are ever USELESS?

If I read , say, Isaiah 55 ...  verse 11, I have to think that 
God's Word is never "useless." 
 
How can the Word of God be useless, ever,

when we understand that it goes forth and accomplishes what God desires?

But where all of the above takes the reader is interesting.  First they subject themselves and/or other members of their congregation to Pastor Rick as he leads nd directs their teaching about God's Word.  Then for six weeks they voluntarily immerse themselves in everything Rick Warren, learning every thing to think about from him, and if Warren meets his goal, they will Learn the Word, Love the Word, and Live the Word, like never ever before.  

In conclusion, Rick points us to the teaching of Jesus.  He says,  

"Jesus said both knowing and applying the word creates the foundation for our lives." Rick then  relates  the NIV rendering of  Matthew 7:24.

This has me wondering...
Christian, what is the "foundation" for your life?

The foundation of "your life," (whatever that entails,)
where does it originate?
More importantly, is that foundation created by, (or simply built upon by,) YOU?

And, when we read in Matthew 7, as Rick relates it to us,

let's note that the firm and strong"foundation" mentioned there,
it's a rock... solid rock.
  

Are you the one responsible for creating the foundation
that Jesus is talking about in  Matthew's passage, 
or could the One truly responsible for the firm foundation
that "solid rock," possibly be someone else,
maybe even... God?

What is Rick Warren and his materials teaching in the church?

One thing more he says in this letter is that "the Bible, must have the first and last word in your life."

First and last?  Interesting.

With that, may Jesus Christ be, not only the solid Rock that your precious faith is founded upon, but the Allpha and the Omega that your Bible always points you to.