Post by sudan on Dec 30, 2006 5:32:46 GMT -5
THE HOUSE OF GOD ON TRIAL
“For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?” – I Peter 4:17
“And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held.” – Revelation 6:9
INTRODUCTION
By Barbara Aho and Janet Moser
A POX ON FOX
In January of this year, Fox TV heavily promoted and aired a “pseudo-documentary” titled “Smallpox.” This fictional movie opened in New York City where a global epidemic had been started by an unknown terrorist who deliberately infected himself with the smallpox virus. Before the film ended, over 60 million people worldwide had perished largely due to a vaccine shortage. The generally inaccurate pseudo-documentary concluded with a scene in the dead terrorist’s apartment where a King James Bible lay open to the book of Ezekiel, chapter 5. The camera zoomed in on the Bible and the narrator slowly read verses 12-13:
“A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee: and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them. Thus shall mine anger be accomplished, and I will cause my fury to rest upon them, and I will be comforted: and they shall know that I the LORD have spoken it in my zeal, when I have accomplished my fury in them.”
This final scene indelibly impressed upon the viewer’s mind that the terrorist was a “Fundamentalist” Christian who had been motivated by the Old Testament prophecy to instigate a global pestilence. The narrator was very precise that the Bible was a King James Version. The verses read from the book of Ezekiel are actually a prophecy of God’s judgment upon ancient Jerusalem for the Jews’ disobedience which led to the Babylonian captivity. This context was never given in the movie, however, and the viewing audience was led to believe that the Fundamentalist Christian took it upon himself to execute God’s wrath on the world. A Tribulation context may be inferred.
The logical conclusion drawn by anyone watching this propaganda piece would have been that, as Fundamentalist Muslim terrorists are inspired by their holy book, the Koran, to commit acts of terror, Fundamentalist Christians are inspired to terrorist activity by the King James Bible.
Why target the King James Bible?
Defenders of the King James Bible have established beyond a doubt that modern versions of the Bible are based on corrupted Greek manuscripts, whereas the King James Version is based on the Received Greek Text that underlay all of the Reformation Bibles. Documentation of these facts as well as prima facie evidence from the modern versions themselves demonstrate that they are vehicles for disseminating heresy. Not only do modern versions not contain the whole counsel of God, and therefore cannot be considered the Word of God, they have removed, changed, and added so many words that they actually promote a different gospel and a different Christ. That the changes in modern versions affect fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith, and that these revisions are no accident, but a conspiracy, is well-documented in our Bible Version section.
RAISING A RUCKMAN
The imaging of King James Bible advocates as Fundamentalist extremists did not materialize out of thin air with the “Smallpox” pseudo-documentary. Advocates of the KJV are stereotypically portrayed as mean-spirited, arrogant and contentious, in no small part due to the comportment of certain prominent leaders who, we suspect, are really “agents provocateurs.” The mission of such agents is not so much to defend the King James Version as it is to create discord and a public perception of KJV-Only advocates as troublemakers and even sociopaths—making it a short step to the assumption that King James defenders are a menace to society.
Agents provocateurs are usually undercover intelligence agents. Their assignment is to infiltrate opposition movements for the express purpose of discrediting them:
“Sophisticated totalitarian governments always use agents provocateurs to smoke out resisters. They send undercover agents into resistance groups to provoke them to violence, so that they can use that violence as ‘proof’ of the need for greater tyranny. Make no mistake: our American totalitarians are very sophisticated in controlling the public. I once heard something in an Establishment hanger-on’s speech that I never forgot: It is easier to exert influence than to exercise control. This is the credo for today’s totalitarians who abhor the crude, heavy-handed methods of Milner or Rhodes, Stalin or Hitler.” [Franklin Sanders, The Militia: Is It Time to Fight?, 1995]
Probably the most notable KJV-Only defender who has done irreparable damage to the perception of King James Only Christians is Peter Ruckman, President of the Pensacola Bible Institute. Armed with scathing sarcasm, incredible rudeness, and even profanity on occasion, Ruckman regularly blasts his theological adversaries in his publications and tapes as “idiots,” “stupid” and worse. Peter Ruckman has brought further reproach on the name of Jesus Christ and Christians by his personal life, which includes two divorces and three marriages. However, Ruckman’s worst mischief has been to launch a movement which irrationally contends that the King James Version is superior to the Greek Textus Receptus. For the theme which permeates the teaching of Peter Ruckman is his dogma that the King James Bible represents a new revelation from God to the translators of the 1611 Authorised Version, that the KJV is the only inspired Word of God, and that, in the many verses where the KJV differs from the Greek Textus Receptus, “the English corrects the Greek.”
“Correct the Greek with the English. It is always the best policy; the one that God will bless. Feel free (with a clear conscience) in always correcting the Greek Receptus with the Holy Bible [meaning the King James]…” (How to Teach the ‘Original’ Greek, 1992, (2000 reprint) p. 117)
“Three things should be emphasized…1. The absolute insanity of translating any Greek text literally, word for word, in order to give a reader THE WORDS God wants him to have in another language.” (Ibid.)
“The King James Bible was “given by inspiration of God.” (Ibid.)
“The King James Bible…often contains revelations of the truth that evidently cannot be found in any Greek text.” (The Christian’s Handbook of Biblical Scholarship, 1988, pp. 271-272)
“The King James’ text is the last and final statement that God has given the world and He has given it in the universal language of the 20th century... The truth is God slammed the door of revelation shut in 389 B.C. and slammed it shut again in 1611.”(The Monarch of the Books, Pensacola, 1980, p. 9)
These grandiose illusions patently contradict the plain statements of the translators of the 1611 King James Version in their Preface, The Translators to the Readers. The Translators’ Preface, which has been excluded from King James Bibles for over one hundred years, documents the labor intensive translation process which the translators undertook to produce the 1611 AV, their belief in the divine inspiration and superiority of the Hebrew and Greek Texts from which they translated, their conviction that no translation can be perfect, not even the 1611 Authorised Version, and their purpose which was simply to improve upon other Reformation Bibles that were also based on the Textus Receptus, i.e. “...to make a good one better, or out of many good ones, one principal good one...”
By means of bullying many Christians who love the King James Version to a radical extreme the AV translators never envisioned, Peter Ruckman has provided modern version advocates the perfect foil with whom to associate KJV proponents they wish to discredit while avoiding the real issues surrounding the modern versions. Almost invariably, modern version proponents label KJV-Only Christians as “Ruckmanites” when they cannot present well-documented and reasoned critiques of our work without exposing their own deception. Such ad hominem attacks reveal their desperation to control the damage we have inflicted on the modern version conspiracy—a conspiracy which they assure their readers doesn’t exist—and their role of controlling the opposition—you, their readers.
The “Ruckmanite” tactic is one example of the lengths to which the conspirators in their varied disguises will go to vilify beyond recognition Christians who defend the purity of God’s Word against the onslaught of corrupted versions that are proliferating and will be marshaled to support the agenda of a false Christ. Now this modern version scam has moved out of the Christian community into the public arena where it is playing an important role in the end-time drama that is unfolding before our very eyes...in the national news.
PURPOSE-DRIVEN MURDERS?
On March 12, 2005, just two months after Fox TV’s pseudo-documentary “Smallpox,” an Atlanta man on a killing rampage was subdued and seemingly led to repentance by a woman who read to him a chapter of Rick Warren’s immensely popular book, The Purpose-Driven Life. According to the famous pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, The Purpose-Driven Life has been the best selling book in the world two years in row, 2003-2004. Immediately following Brian Nichols’ murder spree and surrender to authorities, the secular media went into overdrive promoting The Purpose-Driven Life, as well as Rick Warren, who modestly responded:
“We have been grateful to see God use ‘The Purpose Driven Life’ to provide comfort and direction to people from all walks of life, and were humbled to learn that hostage Ashley Smith found strength and encouragement in its pages during her seven-hour ordeal.
“I understand Ms. Smith shared a portion from the chapter on ‘Servanthood’ with Mr. Nichols, which seemed to have a positive impact on his life. Jesus sometimes calls us in some of the most difficult situations to be an advocate for Him and the message He represented while on this earth.
“We are thankful that Ms. Smith was able to draw from the Scriptures and her reading from the Purpose Driven Life to bring some hope to her captor’s life that was unraveling so tragically and dramatically.” (MSNBC)
Is God using The Purpose-Driven Life to provide direction to people from all walks of life?
One excellent critique of The Purpose-Driven Life is Warren Smith’s book Deceived on Purpose. In the course of his research, Smith discovered that Rick Warren is a protégé of Robert Schuller, the famous pastor of the Crystal Cathedral, who mentored Rick Warren at his Institute for Successful Church Leadership in Garden Grove, California.
“I also noticed that Rick Warren’s name was mentioned on the same page as the New Century Version ad. In a column describing an upcoming church growth conference at his Institute for Successful Church leadership, Schuller had written:
‘You’re Invited to Discover a Fantastic New Dream for Your Church’. The theme for the 2004 Robert H. Schuller Institute for Successful Church Leadership is If You Can Dream It You Can Do It! Dare to dream that your church can overcome, and succeed, and can make a difference in your community and in your world today.
‘Is your church all God wants it to be? Send your pastors and lay church leaders to the 34th Robert H. Schuller Institute for Successful Church Leadership; which brings together the most prominent pastors who make faith come alive in some of the country’s largest churches, like Bill Hybels of Willow Creek Community Church, and Rick Warren of Saddleback Church, both graduates of the Institute.” (Deceived on Purpose, p. 80)
Robert Schuller is a 33° Mason (an important omission in Warren Smith’s otherwise outstanding expose), which explains why Masonic philosophy permeates Rick Warren’s book and the Purpose-Driven Movement as a whole. In fact, Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church belongs to the Southern Baptist Convention which is heavily infiltrated and controlled by Freemasonry. The following excerpt from Deceived on Purpose demonstrates that Rick Warren’s theology is not Christian but pantheist, for he espouses the pagan belief that God lives in everyone:
“Renowned occult teacher and New Age Theosophist Alice A. Bailey also described how a new world religion will be based on this ‘immanent’ aspect of God. Emphasizing the word ‘fresh,’ she states that the ‘Path to God’ will be based on:
‘…a fresh orientation to divinity and to the acceptance of the fact of God Transcendent and of God Immanent within every form of life.
‘These are the foundational truths upon which the world religion of the future will rest’ (emphasis added).
“This same ‘immanence’ aspect of God so important to Maitreya, Alice A. Bailey, the New Spirituality and the New World Religion is also very important to Rick Warren. This idea of ‘immanence’ is taught as part of the Foundations course at Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church. Echoing Bailey’s use of the word ‘fresh,’ the Foundations Participants Guide under the section heading ‘A Fresh Word’ reiterates Rick Warren’s teaching that God is ‘in’ everything. It states:
‘The fact that God stands above and beyond his creation does not mean he stand outside his creation. He is both transcendent (above and beyond his creation) and immanent (within and throughout his creation).
“Robert Schuller has also stressed this aspect of immanence. In a November 9, 2003 sermon at the Crystal Cathedral, Robert Schuller stated that God was not only transcendent but also immanent. He said that as a result of his becoming more aware of the immanence of God, his faith was now ‘deeper, broader and richer more than ever.’ As previously cited, he summarized what he meant by the immanence of God by telling his worldwide television audience:
‘Yes, God is alive and He is in every single human being!’
“Also, as previously mentioned in Chapter Three of this book, this ‘immanent’ aspect of God is also evident in Rick Warren’s favorite paraphrase, Eugene Peterson’s The Message. The notion that God is ‘in’ everything and is ‘One’ with creation is contained in the magical saying ‘as above, so below.’ This is the mystical New Age phrase that Eugene Peterson injected in its entirety into the Lord’s Prayer and its derivative form into Colossians 1:16—the verse that Rick Warren used to introduce his readers to The Purpose Driven Life. As previously cited, the editors of the New Age Journal, described this immanent aspect of God and its New Age significance in their book As Above, So Below:
‘…as above, so below; as below, so above.’ This maxim implies that the transcendent God beyond the physical universe and the immanent God within ourselves are one.’”
N.B. The key verse introducing Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Life reads: “For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible,…everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. Colossians 1:16 (Msg)”
In their book, The Trojan Horse: The New Age Infiltration of the Church, Samantha Smith and Brenda Scott make an important observation: “In our ongoing study of mysticism/occultism/spiritualism, we often find that the authors deny what they are actually teaching.” (24:14) Warren Smith likewise observed that Rick Warren was careful to include a disclaimer that he is not teaching Gnosticism, which in fact he does teach:
“The spiritual implications of all of the overlapping statements are enormous. Rick Warren, Robert Schuller, and Eugene Peterson are all now teaching this immanent aspect of God—that God is ‘in’ everyone. On this critical theological point, these particular Christian leaders are not only ‘not exposing’ one of the central concepts of the ‘New Spirituality’ and probable New World Religion—they seem to be agreeing with it!
“A friend of mine who used to go to Saddleback Church came over to the house one night to try to demonstrate that Rick Warren wasn’t deceived about the New Age or about spiritual deception. I knew his argument would be based on the fact that Rick Warren had made a statement in The Purpose Driven Life that said we will never become God and that we are not divine. He had even used the term ‘New Age philosophies.’ Before my friend could even make his point, I had him turn to page 88 in The Purpose Driven Life. I read the passage out loud:
‘Because God is with you all the time, no place is any closer to God than the place where you are now. The Bible says, ‘He rules everything and is everywhere and is in everything.’
“My friend hung his head in disbelief and then exclaimed, ‘That’s pantheism!’
“He had immediately grasped the dangerous New Age implications of what Rick Warren was saying. He understood that whatever New Age disclaimers Rick Warren seemed to be making, he had just overridden them by what he was actually teaching. On the one hand, Rick Warren has proclaimed that humans are not divine, yet he opens the door to this New Spirituality belief by proclaiming that God is ‘in’ everything.” (pp. 156-159)
In The Purpose-Driven Life, Rick Warren quoted nearly 1,000 verses, nearly all from modern versions and paraphrases of the Bible. Not only did he avoid using the King James Version, he advised readers against reading the KJV. Warren Smith noted Rick Warren’s reason for his disturbing advice:
“Having only used one Bible all these years, I wanted to understand why Rick Warren felt the need to use fifteen different Bible versions and paraphrases in The Purpose-Driven Life. In the back of his book I found this explanation:
‘This book contains nearly a thousand quotations from Scripture. I have intentionally buried the Bible translations used for two important reasons. First, no matter how wonderful a translation is, it has limitations…
‘Second, and even more important, is the fact that we often miss the full impact of familiar Bible verses not because of poor translating, but simply because they have become so familiar!… Therefore I have deliberately used paraphrases in order to help you see God’s truth in new, fresh ways. English-speaking people should thank God that we have so many different versions to use for devotional reading.’
“…Of the fifteen different versions he used, The Message was clearly Rick Warren’s favorite. In The Purpose-Driven Life, he rarely referred to the King James Bible. I found his strange reason why in his 1995 book, The Purpose-Driven Church:
“Read Scripture from a newer translation. With all the wonderful translations and paraphrases available today, there is no legitimate reason for complicating the Good News with four hundred year old English. Using the King James Version creates an unnecessary cultural barrier… Clarity is more important than poetry.” (Smith, Warren. Deceived on Purpose: The New Age Implications of the Purpose-Driven Church, Mountain Stream Press, CA, 2004, pp. 38-39)
We hope the reader did not miss Rick Warren’s recommendation of modern versions and paraphrases as enabling one to “see God’s truth in new, fresh ways.” What “new, fresh ways” might Warren have in mind? Remember that Theosophist Alice Bailey wrote that finding the “Path to God” came through a “fresh orientation to divinity and to the acceptance of the fact of God Transcendent and of God Immanent within every form of life.” Also, Bailey wrote that this new approach to divinity would be the basis of the “new world religion.”
Warren Smith did not fail to make the connection between Rick Warren and Alice Bailey: “Echoing Bailey’s use of the word ‘fresh,’ [Rick Warren’s] Foundations Participants Guide under the section heading ‘A Fresh Word’ reiterates Rick Warren’s teaching that God is ‘in’ everything.” In other words, reading The Purpose-Driven books along with modern versions and paraphrases will give the reader “a fresh orientation to divinity,” i.e. an introduction to pantheism, the doctrinal foundation of the one world religion.
“For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?” – I Peter 4:17
“And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held.” – Revelation 6:9
INTRODUCTION
By Barbara Aho and Janet Moser
A POX ON FOX
In January of this year, Fox TV heavily promoted and aired a “pseudo-documentary” titled “Smallpox.” This fictional movie opened in New York City where a global epidemic had been started by an unknown terrorist who deliberately infected himself with the smallpox virus. Before the film ended, over 60 million people worldwide had perished largely due to a vaccine shortage. The generally inaccurate pseudo-documentary concluded with a scene in the dead terrorist’s apartment where a King James Bible lay open to the book of Ezekiel, chapter 5. The camera zoomed in on the Bible and the narrator slowly read verses 12-13:
“A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee: and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them. Thus shall mine anger be accomplished, and I will cause my fury to rest upon them, and I will be comforted: and they shall know that I the LORD have spoken it in my zeal, when I have accomplished my fury in them.”
This final scene indelibly impressed upon the viewer’s mind that the terrorist was a “Fundamentalist” Christian who had been motivated by the Old Testament prophecy to instigate a global pestilence. The narrator was very precise that the Bible was a King James Version. The verses read from the book of Ezekiel are actually a prophecy of God’s judgment upon ancient Jerusalem for the Jews’ disobedience which led to the Babylonian captivity. This context was never given in the movie, however, and the viewing audience was led to believe that the Fundamentalist Christian took it upon himself to execute God’s wrath on the world. A Tribulation context may be inferred.
The logical conclusion drawn by anyone watching this propaganda piece would have been that, as Fundamentalist Muslim terrorists are inspired by their holy book, the Koran, to commit acts of terror, Fundamentalist Christians are inspired to terrorist activity by the King James Bible.
Why target the King James Bible?
Defenders of the King James Bible have established beyond a doubt that modern versions of the Bible are based on corrupted Greek manuscripts, whereas the King James Version is based on the Received Greek Text that underlay all of the Reformation Bibles. Documentation of these facts as well as prima facie evidence from the modern versions themselves demonstrate that they are vehicles for disseminating heresy. Not only do modern versions not contain the whole counsel of God, and therefore cannot be considered the Word of God, they have removed, changed, and added so many words that they actually promote a different gospel and a different Christ. That the changes in modern versions affect fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith, and that these revisions are no accident, but a conspiracy, is well-documented in our Bible Version section.
RAISING A RUCKMAN
The imaging of King James Bible advocates as Fundamentalist extremists did not materialize out of thin air with the “Smallpox” pseudo-documentary. Advocates of the KJV are stereotypically portrayed as mean-spirited, arrogant and contentious, in no small part due to the comportment of certain prominent leaders who, we suspect, are really “agents provocateurs.” The mission of such agents is not so much to defend the King James Version as it is to create discord and a public perception of KJV-Only advocates as troublemakers and even sociopaths—making it a short step to the assumption that King James defenders are a menace to society.
Agents provocateurs are usually undercover intelligence agents. Their assignment is to infiltrate opposition movements for the express purpose of discrediting them:
“Sophisticated totalitarian governments always use agents provocateurs to smoke out resisters. They send undercover agents into resistance groups to provoke them to violence, so that they can use that violence as ‘proof’ of the need for greater tyranny. Make no mistake: our American totalitarians are very sophisticated in controlling the public. I once heard something in an Establishment hanger-on’s speech that I never forgot: It is easier to exert influence than to exercise control. This is the credo for today’s totalitarians who abhor the crude, heavy-handed methods of Milner or Rhodes, Stalin or Hitler.” [Franklin Sanders, The Militia: Is It Time to Fight?, 1995]
Probably the most notable KJV-Only defender who has done irreparable damage to the perception of King James Only Christians is Peter Ruckman, President of the Pensacola Bible Institute. Armed with scathing sarcasm, incredible rudeness, and even profanity on occasion, Ruckman regularly blasts his theological adversaries in his publications and tapes as “idiots,” “stupid” and worse. Peter Ruckman has brought further reproach on the name of Jesus Christ and Christians by his personal life, which includes two divorces and three marriages. However, Ruckman’s worst mischief has been to launch a movement which irrationally contends that the King James Version is superior to the Greek Textus Receptus. For the theme which permeates the teaching of Peter Ruckman is his dogma that the King James Bible represents a new revelation from God to the translators of the 1611 Authorised Version, that the KJV is the only inspired Word of God, and that, in the many verses where the KJV differs from the Greek Textus Receptus, “the English corrects the Greek.”
“Correct the Greek with the English. It is always the best policy; the one that God will bless. Feel free (with a clear conscience) in always correcting the Greek Receptus with the Holy Bible [meaning the King James]…” (How to Teach the ‘Original’ Greek, 1992, (2000 reprint) p. 117)
“Three things should be emphasized…1. The absolute insanity of translating any Greek text literally, word for word, in order to give a reader THE WORDS God wants him to have in another language.” (Ibid.)
“The King James Bible was “given by inspiration of God.” (Ibid.)
“The King James Bible…often contains revelations of the truth that evidently cannot be found in any Greek text.” (The Christian’s Handbook of Biblical Scholarship, 1988, pp. 271-272)
“The King James’ text is the last and final statement that God has given the world and He has given it in the universal language of the 20th century... The truth is God slammed the door of revelation shut in 389 B.C. and slammed it shut again in 1611.”(The Monarch of the Books, Pensacola, 1980, p. 9)
These grandiose illusions patently contradict the plain statements of the translators of the 1611 King James Version in their Preface, The Translators to the Readers. The Translators’ Preface, which has been excluded from King James Bibles for over one hundred years, documents the labor intensive translation process which the translators undertook to produce the 1611 AV, their belief in the divine inspiration and superiority of the Hebrew and Greek Texts from which they translated, their conviction that no translation can be perfect, not even the 1611 Authorised Version, and their purpose which was simply to improve upon other Reformation Bibles that were also based on the Textus Receptus, i.e. “...to make a good one better, or out of many good ones, one principal good one...”
By means of bullying many Christians who love the King James Version to a radical extreme the AV translators never envisioned, Peter Ruckman has provided modern version advocates the perfect foil with whom to associate KJV proponents they wish to discredit while avoiding the real issues surrounding the modern versions. Almost invariably, modern version proponents label KJV-Only Christians as “Ruckmanites” when they cannot present well-documented and reasoned critiques of our work without exposing their own deception. Such ad hominem attacks reveal their desperation to control the damage we have inflicted on the modern version conspiracy—a conspiracy which they assure their readers doesn’t exist—and their role of controlling the opposition—you, their readers.
The “Ruckmanite” tactic is one example of the lengths to which the conspirators in their varied disguises will go to vilify beyond recognition Christians who defend the purity of God’s Word against the onslaught of corrupted versions that are proliferating and will be marshaled to support the agenda of a false Christ. Now this modern version scam has moved out of the Christian community into the public arena where it is playing an important role in the end-time drama that is unfolding before our very eyes...in the national news.
PURPOSE-DRIVEN MURDERS?
On March 12, 2005, just two months after Fox TV’s pseudo-documentary “Smallpox,” an Atlanta man on a killing rampage was subdued and seemingly led to repentance by a woman who read to him a chapter of Rick Warren’s immensely popular book, The Purpose-Driven Life. According to the famous pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, The Purpose-Driven Life has been the best selling book in the world two years in row, 2003-2004. Immediately following Brian Nichols’ murder spree and surrender to authorities, the secular media went into overdrive promoting The Purpose-Driven Life, as well as Rick Warren, who modestly responded:
“We have been grateful to see God use ‘The Purpose Driven Life’ to provide comfort and direction to people from all walks of life, and were humbled to learn that hostage Ashley Smith found strength and encouragement in its pages during her seven-hour ordeal.
“I understand Ms. Smith shared a portion from the chapter on ‘Servanthood’ with Mr. Nichols, which seemed to have a positive impact on his life. Jesus sometimes calls us in some of the most difficult situations to be an advocate for Him and the message He represented while on this earth.
“We are thankful that Ms. Smith was able to draw from the Scriptures and her reading from the Purpose Driven Life to bring some hope to her captor’s life that was unraveling so tragically and dramatically.” (MSNBC)
Is God using The Purpose-Driven Life to provide direction to people from all walks of life?
One excellent critique of The Purpose-Driven Life is Warren Smith’s book Deceived on Purpose. In the course of his research, Smith discovered that Rick Warren is a protégé of Robert Schuller, the famous pastor of the Crystal Cathedral, who mentored Rick Warren at his Institute for Successful Church Leadership in Garden Grove, California.
“I also noticed that Rick Warren’s name was mentioned on the same page as the New Century Version ad. In a column describing an upcoming church growth conference at his Institute for Successful Church leadership, Schuller had written:
‘You’re Invited to Discover a Fantastic New Dream for Your Church’. The theme for the 2004 Robert H. Schuller Institute for Successful Church Leadership is If You Can Dream It You Can Do It! Dare to dream that your church can overcome, and succeed, and can make a difference in your community and in your world today.
‘Is your church all God wants it to be? Send your pastors and lay church leaders to the 34th Robert H. Schuller Institute for Successful Church Leadership; which brings together the most prominent pastors who make faith come alive in some of the country’s largest churches, like Bill Hybels of Willow Creek Community Church, and Rick Warren of Saddleback Church, both graduates of the Institute.” (Deceived on Purpose, p. 80)
Robert Schuller is a 33° Mason (an important omission in Warren Smith’s otherwise outstanding expose), which explains why Masonic philosophy permeates Rick Warren’s book and the Purpose-Driven Movement as a whole. In fact, Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church belongs to the Southern Baptist Convention which is heavily infiltrated and controlled by Freemasonry. The following excerpt from Deceived on Purpose demonstrates that Rick Warren’s theology is not Christian but pantheist, for he espouses the pagan belief that God lives in everyone:
“Renowned occult teacher and New Age Theosophist Alice A. Bailey also described how a new world religion will be based on this ‘immanent’ aspect of God. Emphasizing the word ‘fresh,’ she states that the ‘Path to God’ will be based on:
‘…a fresh orientation to divinity and to the acceptance of the fact of God Transcendent and of God Immanent within every form of life.
‘These are the foundational truths upon which the world religion of the future will rest’ (emphasis added).
“This same ‘immanence’ aspect of God so important to Maitreya, Alice A. Bailey, the New Spirituality and the New World Religion is also very important to Rick Warren. This idea of ‘immanence’ is taught as part of the Foundations course at Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church. Echoing Bailey’s use of the word ‘fresh,’ the Foundations Participants Guide under the section heading ‘A Fresh Word’ reiterates Rick Warren’s teaching that God is ‘in’ everything. It states:
‘The fact that God stands above and beyond his creation does not mean he stand outside his creation. He is both transcendent (above and beyond his creation) and immanent (within and throughout his creation).
“Robert Schuller has also stressed this aspect of immanence. In a November 9, 2003 sermon at the Crystal Cathedral, Robert Schuller stated that God was not only transcendent but also immanent. He said that as a result of his becoming more aware of the immanence of God, his faith was now ‘deeper, broader and richer more than ever.’ As previously cited, he summarized what he meant by the immanence of God by telling his worldwide television audience:
‘Yes, God is alive and He is in every single human being!’
“Also, as previously mentioned in Chapter Three of this book, this ‘immanent’ aspect of God is also evident in Rick Warren’s favorite paraphrase, Eugene Peterson’s The Message. The notion that God is ‘in’ everything and is ‘One’ with creation is contained in the magical saying ‘as above, so below.’ This is the mystical New Age phrase that Eugene Peterson injected in its entirety into the Lord’s Prayer and its derivative form into Colossians 1:16—the verse that Rick Warren used to introduce his readers to The Purpose Driven Life. As previously cited, the editors of the New Age Journal, described this immanent aspect of God and its New Age significance in their book As Above, So Below:
‘…as above, so below; as below, so above.’ This maxim implies that the transcendent God beyond the physical universe and the immanent God within ourselves are one.’”
N.B. The key verse introducing Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Life reads: “For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible,…everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. Colossians 1:16 (Msg)”
In their book, The Trojan Horse: The New Age Infiltration of the Church, Samantha Smith and Brenda Scott make an important observation: “In our ongoing study of mysticism/occultism/spiritualism, we often find that the authors deny what they are actually teaching.” (24:14) Warren Smith likewise observed that Rick Warren was careful to include a disclaimer that he is not teaching Gnosticism, which in fact he does teach:
“The spiritual implications of all of the overlapping statements are enormous. Rick Warren, Robert Schuller, and Eugene Peterson are all now teaching this immanent aspect of God—that God is ‘in’ everyone. On this critical theological point, these particular Christian leaders are not only ‘not exposing’ one of the central concepts of the ‘New Spirituality’ and probable New World Religion—they seem to be agreeing with it!
“A friend of mine who used to go to Saddleback Church came over to the house one night to try to demonstrate that Rick Warren wasn’t deceived about the New Age or about spiritual deception. I knew his argument would be based on the fact that Rick Warren had made a statement in The Purpose Driven Life that said we will never become God and that we are not divine. He had even used the term ‘New Age philosophies.’ Before my friend could even make his point, I had him turn to page 88 in The Purpose Driven Life. I read the passage out loud:
‘Because God is with you all the time, no place is any closer to God than the place where you are now. The Bible says, ‘He rules everything and is everywhere and is in everything.’
“My friend hung his head in disbelief and then exclaimed, ‘That’s pantheism!’
“He had immediately grasped the dangerous New Age implications of what Rick Warren was saying. He understood that whatever New Age disclaimers Rick Warren seemed to be making, he had just overridden them by what he was actually teaching. On the one hand, Rick Warren has proclaimed that humans are not divine, yet he opens the door to this New Spirituality belief by proclaiming that God is ‘in’ everything.” (pp. 156-159)
In The Purpose-Driven Life, Rick Warren quoted nearly 1,000 verses, nearly all from modern versions and paraphrases of the Bible. Not only did he avoid using the King James Version, he advised readers against reading the KJV. Warren Smith noted Rick Warren’s reason for his disturbing advice:
“Having only used one Bible all these years, I wanted to understand why Rick Warren felt the need to use fifteen different Bible versions and paraphrases in The Purpose-Driven Life. In the back of his book I found this explanation:
‘This book contains nearly a thousand quotations from Scripture. I have intentionally buried the Bible translations used for two important reasons. First, no matter how wonderful a translation is, it has limitations…
‘Second, and even more important, is the fact that we often miss the full impact of familiar Bible verses not because of poor translating, but simply because they have become so familiar!… Therefore I have deliberately used paraphrases in order to help you see God’s truth in new, fresh ways. English-speaking people should thank God that we have so many different versions to use for devotional reading.’
“…Of the fifteen different versions he used, The Message was clearly Rick Warren’s favorite. In The Purpose-Driven Life, he rarely referred to the King James Bible. I found his strange reason why in his 1995 book, The Purpose-Driven Church:
“Read Scripture from a newer translation. With all the wonderful translations and paraphrases available today, there is no legitimate reason for complicating the Good News with four hundred year old English. Using the King James Version creates an unnecessary cultural barrier… Clarity is more important than poetry.” (Smith, Warren. Deceived on Purpose: The New Age Implications of the Purpose-Driven Church, Mountain Stream Press, CA, 2004, pp. 38-39)
We hope the reader did not miss Rick Warren’s recommendation of modern versions and paraphrases as enabling one to “see God’s truth in new, fresh ways.” What “new, fresh ways” might Warren have in mind? Remember that Theosophist Alice Bailey wrote that finding the “Path to God” came through a “fresh orientation to divinity and to the acceptance of the fact of God Transcendent and of God Immanent within every form of life.” Also, Bailey wrote that this new approach to divinity would be the basis of the “new world religion.”
Warren Smith did not fail to make the connection between Rick Warren and Alice Bailey: “Echoing Bailey’s use of the word ‘fresh,’ [Rick Warren’s] Foundations Participants Guide under the section heading ‘A Fresh Word’ reiterates Rick Warren’s teaching that God is ‘in’ everything.” In other words, reading The Purpose-Driven books along with modern versions and paraphrases will give the reader “a fresh orientation to divinity,” i.e. an introduction to pantheism, the doctrinal foundation of the one world religion.