In his Expository Sermons through Revelation W.A. Criswel says of the "counterfeit church":
The counterfeit church says what the world desires to hear said.
The counterfeit church teaches what the world wants taught.
The counterfeit church enjoys what the world enjoys."
It is my opinion, based upon what I've read and seen happen, that saying what the world desires to hear, teaching what the world desires to be taught, enjoying what the world enjoys is the backbone of the Purpose Driven Church's "seeker sensitive" movement is all about.

What's wrong with Rick Warren's books??



I want to write an eloquent opening to this page, but right now am slightly distracted and just want to get the information up - eloquent or not, this is the opening. :oD

Our church worked through the "40 Days of Purpose" by going through the Rick Warren book, "Purpose Driven Life" in 2002. In the beginning, before I knew who it was or what it was all about I had a catch in my spirit about it. I began praying. I was driven to find out more about this "40 Days" and what it was all about. I called the chruch office and the secretary gave me a small clue, "Rick Warren of Saddle-something church in California." I did an internet search on him.

I found rave reviews of his book, of his program for churches, of his work. That eased my mind, but my spirit was still uneasy. I searched deeper. I read on RW's site, read some of his sermons, read what pastors had to say on pastors.com. It was there I first heard someone bring up that there may be problems with it. I searched deeper.

What I found was most upsetting to my mind and settling on my soul. I knew I hit the right track. I brought up my concerns to the pastor, a lifelong friend(well, long as *my* life anyway) and he just said, "go through the book with us and then see what you think" and "just give it a try" and "dont you trust me and your deacons to not lead you astray?" He'd taught me all of my life to not take man's word for gospel but to take man's word TO the gospel and make sure what the man was saying truely lined up with scripture. So, no, I could not just "trust" man in this matter.

The morning came for the beginning of the "40 Days" and with a heavy heart I attended. Before it began, I sat at the table with the books and looked through it. It all seemed good, lined up with what the Bible says. My mind was renewed on the good of the program and I bought the book and began the study with everyone else. As I studied the book, and study The Book I began to see things that just weren't backed with Holy Scriptures.

I again took my concerns to the pastor. Who I could tell was not *really* listening. This broke my heart, because, previously he'd always had an open heart, ear, spirit. He told me if I found anything opposed to scripture to let him know - so I turned to that page in my notes and began to tell him. He didn't listen. Didn't listen.

We knew we were being called out of that church. We thought it was for a long-distance move. Turned out we didn't move much further away than we were, but still it was time to move on to a new church home. To leave where I grew up. The family I grew up with. To leave where we've been members together since we were married. To leave where all of our children had been born. And I truely believe the Rick Warren program to have changed my God-fearing, Bible-preaching, dicipile-making, grow-your-faith church into a sunday morning entertainment show concerned with numbers more than depth. The biggest clue to that was the change in teh church motto. From "doign God's work, God's way for God's glory" to "[church name] people like you" church purpose changed from being focused on God and doing his will to man and pleasing him.

We visited the church where we always thought we'd attend if we moved into this area. Our very first Sunday there the pastor announces the "40 days of purpose" starting in two weeks. My heart broke. We are wading through it with this body, though, praying that the godly saints there can bring the church through the program and out of it without the collateral damage that our church went through. (one of the first things to happen at our church, was changes that sent off the godly saints who were willing to stand up for God without compromise. leaving the body with younger, less wise leading the way)

Ok... now it's not eloquent, but it's the story I have to tell.

I told my family of my concerns about the program and they requested the information that I have on it. I went over the previous research I had, found new and found others out there who find fault in he story I had to tell.this program too! I put the information together in an email or six for my family. Since I had the information together, I offered to share it with others. So far, to date, I've receieved 107 requests for that information. Most just curious, some going through the book, or their church is. But there were several that said they "felt soemthing was wrong with it" or that they'd begun the book and found problems with it and were interested in the information I have.

well, I'm putting the information that *I* have on here, hoping it helps you to discern whether it's a program you desire to be a part of or not.

The information contained herein is what I had collected as of the winter of 2003. It is only a scratch on the surface, I have seen so much MORE available now. I hope to update with some fresh new sites soon and to put up those notes I promised above, they're now sit safely in my file cabinet.

God Bless.

Now, before clicking on any links or anything stop and pray. Pray for God's guidance through these pages. Pray for Him to show you what *you* need to see. Pray for a discerning spirit upon you. Pray you'll not be lead astray from Him, but only grown towards Him.

To begin