I am not ashamed of the Gospel!

Well, Rick Warren has done it again. He has managed to make an appearance on international television and somehow failed to mention the Name. You know what I mean by the Name, and if you have listened to our radio show, you know what I am talking about in regards to Rick Warren.

Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in California and author of the Purpose Driven books, was the subject of an interview on Dateline NBC on October 3. It was one of many of such appearances that Warren has been making in another stage of promotion for his book and church growth philosophy.

It came as no surprise to me that Warren failed to give credit to the Lord Jesus, let alone not mention evangelism, discipleship or the cause of the church. After all, it would not be his style to do so. In the NBC interview, Warren was asked why it is that he does not address the may hot topics that are the subjects of many pastors and teachers today such as abortion, same sex marriage, etc.Warren’s response was that you would not hear “politics” from his pulpit. He said he was more concern with where people are than where they have been.

I agree with him in part. The woman, who has had an abortion, needs the grace and peace that only God can give her. But she also needs the forgiveness of sin that only God can give her through repentance and obedience. As I have stated many times, Warren,Hybels and all of the purpose driven/seeker sensitive folks over emphasize the love and provision of God to the neglect of the righteousness and judgment of God, and as such do not proclaim the whole Gospel.

With such a watered down message it is no wonder that the church is failing in its mission. This user-friendly approach to church growth will definitely fill the building. I know of one church in particular in our area that put up very impressive numbers. They calmly boast that they love people and are breaking the molds to meet the “felt needs” of everyone. They offer many different programs ranging from a nursery to drama to separate services for children and teens.

They get a lot of attention and always seem to be on the move. The facts are that this church has done more to set back evangelism and discipleship for the cause of Christ that anything else in that area in the past 50 years. If numbers and building impress you then you would definitely be impressed.

But the truth is that this particular church does not preach the whole counsel of God, thus creating a revolving door, marching through a mass of people who have no solid foundation for their faith. If a church or an individual just hugs a lot of necks and tell you everything is okay, while neglecting the fact that we are sinners bound for hell, unless we repent and surrender our lives to Christ, then simply said THEY ARE NOT CHRISTIANS and THEY ARE NOT THE CHURCH.

I know many of you think I spend too much time on this, but this thing is a cancer and it must be removed and done away with. At one point I was not willing to consider Purpose Driven/Seeker Sensitive to be heretical. Now my opinion has changed and I declare today that it is my belief that these “church growth” philosophies are what I believe to be the catalyst for the apostate church spoken of in Scripture.

These are desperate times, and it is time to desperately seek the Lord while there is still time. It is time for us to get real, to get serious about serving the Lord, and quit playing church.