…is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. (James 1:8)

Rick Warren’s “Now You See It; Now You Don’t” Teaching Style

Apprising Ministries has been among the online apologetics and discernment ministries who brought to your attention an ill-advised decision by Dr. John Piper to bring Purpose Driven Pope Rick Warren into the Desiring God Conference 2010 as the keynote speaker.

Standard operating procedure within squishy evanjellyfish is to simply sweep things like this under the carpet and let them blow over. But unfortunately, Dr. Piper would make the dubious decision to defend his decision:

At root I think [Rick Warren] is theological and doctrinal and sound. (as cited Online source) 

O, make no mistake, Piper-Warrengate is still slowly simmering. And Warren’s doing his best to make sure to stir the pot, as last night I showed you his Twitter boast in My Church Can Beat Your Church Says Rick Warren; repeated via a screen shot below: 

(Online source)

Having long been covering the antics of Rick Warren, I took the screen shot because—in my opinion—he is double-minded, and things he writes are often known to suddenly vanish into the ether. Well, such was the case this time; within a couple of hours the above tweet disappeared without explanation.

Likely reactions such as Rick Warren’s recent challenge (revised) from Daniel Chew, author of the fine book Driven Away by Purpose and contributing writer for my Christian Research Network, had something to do with the tweet flying away:

Besides the sheer arrogance of it all, one thing which struck out the most was the utter man-centeredness of this tweet. The best of Christians are always struggling with sin, and they come to realize how far they fall short as they grow in godliness. Warren’s tweet seeks to compare the supposed “maturity” of his members with others. When one compares with other men, one can always look good. After all, “I am not as bad as this or that guy”.

But when we compare ourselves to the objective standard of Christ and his holiness, things start to look different. The holy prophet Isaiah was undone before the most holy presence of God (Is. 6), and I’m sure none of Warren’s flock or even Warren himself can compare to that holy prophet. Warren’s tweet continues to reveal how man-centered he is indeed. After all, this is the type of fruit we should sadly expect from a man-centered “gospel” (Mt. 7:15-20). (Online source)

Frankly, Warren having removed the offending tweet would have been the end of this. Since he didn’t explain why he took it down, I would have said nothing further; but it’s now grown quite worse with Rick Warren defending his pitting Saddleback Church against others in his earlier “challenge.”

Amazingly Warren compared himself to the Apostle Paul when he tweeted just a bit ago:

(Online source)

Maybe so; but as we discussed this today, my friend Daniel Neades of Better Than Sacrifice correctly pointed out that Rick Warren “doesn’t have apostolic (or other) oversight of the churches he wants to compare against his own.” From where I stand, Neades is also right when he told me that, “St. Paul was interested in provoking others to good works, whereas RW’s original tweet looked like it was interested in bringing glory to RW.”

Consider the following tweets from Warren, which came right on the heels of the one above:

 
(Online source)

(Online source)

With the boast of “reverse tithing” Rick Warren has long been making, it’s well past time someone reminds him of the actual Biblical model. Or has pastor Warren really never read what Jesus said:

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others.”

“Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:1-4)

The question then becomes: Why did Rick Warren delete the tweet that he’s now been vigorously defending? Well, as for me personally, I stand by my own Biblical assessment of Rick Warren above.

See also:

IS THIS DOCTRINAL AND SOUND DR. JOHN PIPER? 

RICK WARREN AND ROMAN CATHOLICS 

RICK WARREN DECEPTION ALREADY INVADING REFORMED CAMP  

SADDLEBACK CHURCH, RICK WARREN, AND SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES 

DR. MICHAEL HORTON ON THE CHAMELEON-LIKE RICK WARREN 

THE INADEQUATE GOSPEL OF RICK WARREN 

REFUTING RICK WARREN