Republished October 24, 2007 (first published April 26, 2005) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -

Speaking April 17 before 30,000 members and attendees of Saddleback Church at the congregation’s 25th anniversary celebration, Rick Warren announced his plan for a global vision called P.E.A.C.E. The plan is described as nothing less than “a new reformation in Christianity and vision for a worldwide spiritual awakening in the 21st century.” Warren wants to enlist “one billion foot soldiers” to overcome the five “global giants” of “Spiritual Emptiness, Self-serving Leadership, Poverty, Disease and ignorance (or illiteracy).” The acronym PEACE gives the means of overcoming these giants -- Planting Churches, Equipping Leaders, Assisting the Poor, Caring for the Sick, and Educating the Next Generation. Warren’s program both expands and narrows the Great Commission given by the Lord Jesus Christ (Matt. 28:18-20; Mk. 16:15; Lk. 24:44-48; Acts 1:8). It expands it with a global social agenda that we see nowhere in the New Testament. It narrows it by abridging and simplifying N.T. doctrine and practice. Whereas Christ commanded that believers be taught “to observe all things whatsoever I have taught you” (Mat. 28:20), Warren suggests they observe a few things that have been summarized and reinterpreted by a contemporary church growth guru.

PURPLE HAZE

Before Warren stated his new vision, he did something he said he had wanted to do for a long time. He sang Jimi Hendrix’s drug-drenched song “Purple Haze” to his congregation, accompanied by his “praise and worship” band! There has never been anything innocent or pure about rock and roll (not to speak of holy). From its inception it has had two grand themes: licentiousness (sex, drugs, etc.) and rebellion, and this is nowhere more evident than in the music of Jimi Hendrix.

I want to say publicly, “Shame on Rick Warren, and shame on his fellow Southern Baptist Convention leaders for not publicly rebuking him for such worldly shenanigans.”

WARREN TEAMS UP WITH NEW AGE GURU

The following is from Lighthouse Trails Research Project, April 19, <editor@lighthousetrails.com>: “While Rick Warren is gearing up to train a billion people, unbeknownst to many he has also been teamed up with New Age and contemplative promoter, Ken Blanchard, for some time now. According to a new biography on Rick Warren, A Life with Purpose written by George Mair, Rick Warren has solicited the services of Ken Blanchard to aid him in training leaders: ‘Rick taps the best and most famous to help train church leaders to be like Jesus. He has hired Ken Blanchard ... to come to Saddleback to help train people how to be effective leaders’ (p. 193). There is countless evidence to show that Blanchard sits on the New Age/mystical/contemplative bandwagon. Blanchard believes in the benefits and use of mantra meditation, yoga and has no trouble borrowing from Buddhism. Blanchard wrote the foreword to Jim Ballard’s books Mind Like Water and What Would Buddha Do At Work? He is on the front cover of Corporate Mystic and the back cover of Deepak Chopra’s Seven Spiritual Laws of Success and wrote the Foreword to Ellen Ladd;s (clairvoyant) book, Death and Letting Go. Blanchard makes no apology when he says much can be gained from Buddhism. He and his wife both encourage the practice of yoga (p. 11) and mantra meditation. Ken Blanchard, Rick Warren, and Bill Hybels (Willow Creek) have become team players at the Lead Like Jesus conferences, which take place across North America. The three also have an audio set they co-authored together.”

See the “Church Growth” section of the Apostasy Database at the Way of Life web site for more information -- http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/fbns-index/churchgrowthfbns.htm.