Friday, March 7, 2014

Rick's "Kingdom of God"

"The greatest need in the world today is to release the latent energy bottled up in believers who are doing nothing for the kingdom of God. It’s time for the Church to rise up and be the Church. The Church is the Body of Christ; but it seems like our hands and feet have been amputated, and most of the time we’re just a big mouth."  ~Rick Warren
Our Global Mission: PEACE on Earth, By Rick Warren, pastors.com

Interesting that Warren paints the notion that believers "do nothing."
He suggests that the "church" is useless....
nothing but  "a big mouth."  (Preaching?)
See:


"First, what is the kingdom of God? The kingdom of God is God’s people, doing God’s purposes on God’s planet. That’s it. It’s not a place. It’s not a thing it’s God’s people, doing God’s purposes on God’s planet."   ~Rick Warren

Extending the Vision, Day 29, Learning My Purpose, by Rick Warren, Easter Sunday, 2005, purposedriven.com


In other words... the Kingdom of God... It is Rick's personal agenda.
(He repeated himself, mentioned this twice, for emphasis.)
If you are not on Rick's agenda....  then what?

"Five things Jesus did in the kingdom – share the good news, train leaders, help the poor, care for the sick, taught the children...   But the first thing before I even talk about it is you need to understand that at the heart of the PEACE plan is this theme – the kingdom of God. The PEACE plan is just doing the five things that Jesus did while He was here on earth. Share the good news, train leaders, help the poor, cared for the sick, taught the children. Doing the five things that Jesus did. It’s a strategy of global expansion. Jesus cares about the whole world. The Bible says, “God so loved the world,” that’s the first part of the dream. The Bible says this, “Then all the nations will remember the Lord from every part of the world they will turn to Him. All nations will worship Him. All people will bow down before Him and future generations will serve Him.”  ~Rick Warren
Extending the Vision, Day 29, Learning My Purpose, by Rick Warren, Easter Sunday, 2005, purposedriven.com

Dream?
Is someone dreaming?

Amazingly, Jesus did "five" things... five important things while he was on earth,
according to Warren,
but His death and Resurrection is NOT even mentioned as one of the "five."
Does he overlook this?
And take note.... Rick neglects to finish John 3:16.  
What's with that.
.
What "Lord" do you suppose will be worshiped by the "dreaming" world.... 
if not the "Jesus of John 3:16?"


"The Bible says this in Matthew 24 “The good news about God’s kingdom  will be preached unto all the world, to every nation and then the end is going to come.” You can argue about prophecy all you want but Jesus Christ is not going to conclude history until everybody He wanted to hear the word has had a chance to hear the word. But one day God’s going to bring everything to a culmination. The Bible says this in Ephesians, “God has made known to us the plans that He decided to complete by means of Jesus Christ. This plan is that God will complete when the time is right, is to bring all creation together – everything in heaven and on earth with Christ as its head.” If you want to be on the winning side of history, I’ll tell you what to do....."  

What?  Believe upon Jesus?
Put your trust in him?
Rick continues...
  "....Stick with the kingdom  of God. Because it’s going to outlast everything else."  ~Rick Warren

Extending the Vision, Day 29, Learning My Purpose, by Rick Warren, Easter Sunday, 2005, purposedriven.com

Stick with the kingdom of God?
See: Extending the Vision, Day 29, Learning My Purpose, by Rick Warren,
to have him tell you "what the kingdom of God" is.

 "The Bible tells us we are to be salt and light in the world. A lot of people take “salt and light” to suggest we need to be actively involved in the political system. It is important to vote and take a stand on values. But, you don’t change culture through politics. If you want to change culture you start upstream with music, entertainment, and sports. You start with the influences on the way people think. This is the task of the church; a renewed church affects society. Cultural renewal is when the attitudes of the people in the entire nation begins to change, even those who are not Christians. The Bible calls this change in culture, “the kingdom of God.”~Rick Warren
Churches That Change to Be Healthier Experience 5 Renewals (Part 2) 
2014, by Rick Warren, http://pastors.com/5renewals-2/


Odd.  One would think you start  by preaching God's Word...
 but no, Rick says, to start with music and entertainment and sports.
???
(This must mean that you produce movies like the "Son of God"
 endorsed by both Rick and Joel Olsteen)

Odd too, is this notion of cultural renewal....
 that this "change in culture," (here on earth,)
 is the "kingdom" of God. 


Rick Warren's Interview with John Piper.... to help establish to many people that indeed Rick's theology was correct....as retold by a Christian Post article in 2011:

"When pressed on his beliefs about the new heavens and the new earth, Warren admitted that he hasn't studied it deeply and was thus leaving open "whether we wind up on the new earth," as Piper expressed.

"So you don't think. that say the PEACE Plan or the labors to make life better here, is going to be a continuity of improvement that goes into a kingdom on earth?" Piper asked. Warren immediately responded,

 "I'm definitely not postmillennial. And I do not believe in bringing the kingdom by human means, in no sense of the matter. Now, I do believe that the kingdom of God is present wherever Jesus is King (including your heart).'"
What Rick Warren Believes About Salvation, Eternal Life by Audrey Barrick, reporter Christian Post, 5/28/2011


Rick, a pastor for over 25 years....  has no "beliefs"
 about the new heavens and the new earth?

Really? 

Had he never taught from the book of Revelation? 
Did he go to seminary?

Maybe Rick was just being evasive by "leaving it "open."
It's odd, because he boasts and brags about how much he reads and 
studies everything....all the time.  In fact, you might think there is not anything
 he has not studied, nothing he does not know or cannot do.
Yet he remains uninformed, undecided... "open" about 
what he believes about the "new heavens and the new earth."

"Don’t just regularly communicate your church’s vision. Regularly show your ministry leaders their unique contribution to that vision. Help them see how their ministry moves the church toward it's vision. People need to see the eternal significance of ministering in Jesus’ name. Vision motivates people. Guilt and pressure discourages people. Help people see they’re investing for eternity, that there’s no greater cause than the Kingdoof God."  ~Rick Warren
Restate Your Churches Vision Every 30 Days, by Rick Warren, pastors.com


Guilt is not always a bad thing...
Romans 3:19:
"Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped,
 and all the world may become guilty before God.





"That ye would walk worthy of God, who 
hath called you unto his Kingdom and glory.
 For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, 
because, when ye received the word of God 
which ye heard of us, ye received it 
not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, 
which effectually worketh also in you that believe.





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