My church is starting a new series this coming Sunday on ‘The Simple Church’ that has me more than a little nervous. I believe (but has not been verified yet) that it is based on the book, ‘Simple Church‘ by Thom S. Rainer and Eric Geiger. Pastor will preach 4 messages each Sunday morning over the month of July. Evening services will not be held. In its place, we will divide into small groups and discuss the morning message.
So what has me on edge? Continue reading
Are you familiar with the tale of the pied piper?
The story goes that a small German village called Hamelin suffered from a terrible rat infestation. A man calling himself a rat catcher boasted he could rid the town of every single rodent. The villagers promised the man, (known around those parts as the pied piper) a great sum of money for accomplishing this task. He played his flute, mesmerizing the entire colony, leading them to the nearest river, and drowning them all in the rushing waters. However the villagers weren’t as thankful as they ought to have been. Like many of us would do in the midst of a desperate situation, they made a wild promise they could not possibly hope to keep in order to rid the town of its plague. But once they were relieved of their burden they had no intentions of paying the man his due.
After all, the problem wasn’t all that bad in the first place, right? It’s similar to how quickly a sailor’s fear of drowning fades after the storm subsides. The pied piper did not take the villagers’ snub very well, so he plotted revenge. One day, while the adults were all gathered together for church service, he came into town and spellbound all the children with his soulful tunes. He led them away to a dark cave. All of the children entered without hesitation, but none of them ever walked back out. Continue reading
I had arrived at a crisis point in my spiritual life and I just didn’t know what to do. Our church had bowed its knee at the altar of Purpose, worshiping the Church Growth Goddess, who had seductively lured it away to her sinful bed. She had successfully inflamed passion for numerical growth, fame and influence to a fever pitch among our leadership. They had yielded to her will in matters of faith and practice. I strongly felt God’s call to come out of her, that her sins would not be imputed unto me or my family. However, I didn’t know where to go. I felt I needed a well thought out plan before exiting stage left.
I still had not found a church home for us to root ourselves in. After 11 years in a pentecostal\charismatic type church and seeing a lot of goofiness done in the name of God, I was looking to make our home in a more conservative, scripture-saturated atmosphere. I didn’t completely rule out a ‘full-gospel’ church since there are a couple in our town with good reputations, but I honestly couldn’t bring myself to attend them. I have too many questions and concerns about tongues, prophecies, prophets and spirit baptisms to be comfortable in one right now. Most of the other churches I considered have been influenced, to some degree, by Rick Warren. So many choices, so few options. So while I pondered and prayed over our future, we continued to attend services on Sunday morning and on Wednesday nights. Continue reading
The writing was on the Banner. I just didn’t immediately notice it.
I pulled into the church parking lot one bright Sunday morning, going through my normal routine. I delivered my kids to their various classes and sat down in our gym-turned-auditorium. Service began as usual, with our pop-star praise and worship leader grooving and crooning to the beat. I gritted my teeth, closed my eyes and attempted to worship God despite the distractions. When our pastor stepped up to the pulpit he declared, “Welcome to XXXX XXXXXXXXXX Church.”
Excuse me? What did he just say? I looked around, first to assure myself I had not taken a wrong turn at Albuquerque. Yep, it was the right place. Next, I gauged the reaction of the congregation. However, nobody blinked an eye at his calling the church by a different name. Continue reading
In Part 1 of this series I wrote that three major events led directly to my departure from my old church several months ago. I want to chronicle those events here in hope that some of my readers may be able to detect the infiltration of the heretical principles of the church growth/seeker sensitive/purpose-driven movement creeping into their own congregations.
In October of 2005 I underwent my own personal reformation of belief, turning away from Arminianism to Calvinism, away from a man-centered theology to a Christocentric theology. This startling change began, due in part, to my intense dissatisfaction with the church and the preaching from the pulpit. As I examined the messages I couldn’t help but feel the biblical content was minimal, with the wisdom of men used as filler. That sent me on a journey to discover the truth about the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. This, in turn, led me to embrace Reformation Theology. However, I did not leave my church immediately. Instead, I turned on my discernment radar and listened closely to every word spoken from the pulpit. Sadly, I must report, the results were appalling. Continue reading
In the past year I went from blessed believer in my church to blessed subtraction. The events leading to my exodus can be traced back to about three years ago. Circumstances culminated quickly within the past year-and-a-half as the veil of deception lifted from my heart. After serving this Assembly of God fellowship for over eleven years I finally came to the crossroad between conviction and compromise. I chose conviction.
So, my family and I have left behind friends, ministries and memories to embark on a new mission that God is leading us into. I am excited for the glories that lie on the horizon, but my heart aches also for those things I have left behind. Leaving a church is akin to getting a divorce from a beloved spouse. You might love her deeply but unfaithfulness must by necessity drive you apart. It is painful; resentment and bitterness can fester on both sides if the Lord is not sought to help heal wounds and forgive trespasses. Feelings of loneliness and isolation can at times be overwhelming. Opposition from those you called brothers and sisters in Christ can suck the life out of you; stirring feelings of guilt and doubt.
Several months ago, I sent out an email to several of my friends and former members of my old church. In it I let my pent up impressions of Rick Warren pour out like a tsunami into digital text. The reaction I received surprised me a bit. The response was overwhelmingly and enthusiastically positive. It seems most everyone could affirm the points I had made. I received several phone calls from concerned believers, confirming with them the dark turn the modern evangelical church as a whole has taken. A turn that leads down a path of heresy and ultimately apostasy from the gospel of Christ if left unconfronted. In the last year I’ve read many accounts from Purpose-Driven refugees; people forced out of their churches by false teaching, watered down preaching and flesh-titillating outreach methodologies. In the past year I and many others have joined the ranks of the disenchanted. We have made our stand against the ungodliness that has seeped into the church, firmly rooting our feet on the solid rock of Jesus Christ and His word. God has been faithful to me through it all. He has led me to attend a baptist church that centers their ministry upon God’s grace through the cross of Christ.
I am reprinting the email here in hope that it will stir awareness and discernment within my readers, opening their eyes to the insidious errors walking through the front doors of our churches unchallenged.
Note: The last link no longer works. The site publishing the article no longer exists. That is unfortunate because it was the inspiration for my email. Oh well… Continue reading
In my Previous posts on Rick Warren’s appearance on Nightline I quoted the following:
Warren said that there is a danger in merging Christianity with psychology.
“Absolutely, there’s a danger,” he said. “Because what it does is feed this self-centeredness … I say, it’s not about you. It’s all about God.
OK, it sounds like he is opposed to the merging of psychological philosophy with the church.
Great!
Oh, but wait… then there’s this. An article from Christianpost.com written by Warren entitled Six Physical Factors that Affect Your Worship Service is all about psychology. He advocates manipulating environmental factors to help grow the church!
Here are some selected quotes from the article with commentary. Continue reading
If you thought the quotes from Rick Warren highlighted in my last post were jaw-dropping, well hold on to your chin! Here is round two from the article Rick Warren & Purpose-Driven Strife.
So the debate goes on: Is the purpose-driven method simplifying Christianity in exchange for church growth? The founder of the movement says the conflicts and divisions are inevitable costs.
“You know, I wouldn’t intentionally want to cause pain to any person or to anyone,”
My comment: No. He would be pleased as punch if all the churches would conform to his image without debate.
Warren said. “Am I willing to put up with pain so the people [that] Jesus Christ died for can come to know him? Absolutely.”
Warren said that if some churches may suffer as a result of applying some of those principles, then “that’s the price.” Continue reading
I am compelled to post my thoughts on several things Rick Warren said to Martin Bashir in an interview on Nightline several weeks ago. Here is an excerpt from the article Rick Warren & Purpose-Driven Strife from ABCnews.com. It is essentially a word for word transcript from the Nightline segment.
Warren said that there is a danger in merging Christianity with psychology. “Absolutely, there’s a danger,” he said. “Because what it does is feed this self-centeredness … I say, it’s not about you. It’s all about God. And one of the biggest myths is that all mega churches are alike. Well, they’re not.” Continue reading
A Peculiar Pilgrim 