CONCERNING RICK WARREN, DECEIVED ON PURPOSE

By on Jan 9, 2013 in Current Issues, Features, Rick Warren

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In 2010 Rick Warren, General of the Seeker Driven Army, was given a pass via John Piper into the wider evangelical community

This year Acts 29 brought Warren’s warped work even deeper into the younger sectors of the Reformed camp through their R 12 conference.

So, Apprising Ministries decided to refresh your memory about the influence of Robert Schueller upon Rick Warren with this excerpt below.

Tim Challies would tell us while reviewing Deceived On Purpose by Warren Smith that:

Deceived On Purpose is probably the most important contribution in the ongoing discussion about Rick Warren’s The Purpose Driven Life and all things Purpose Driven.

It is one of only a couple of book-length treatments of the subject and the one that brings the most to the table. The author, Warren Smith, is a former New Ager who, after being saved, researched and has written extensively on the topic of spiritual deception…

[Smith] believes that Rick Warren is leading the church astray and will mince no words in defending the Body of Christ. Leafing through the book, the reader might be surprised to see how much of the book is dedicated to a discussion of Robert Schuller…

Smith contends that many of Warren’s ideas and beliefs were shaped by Schuller. Hence to learn about Schuller is to learn about Warren. Smith leaves no stone unturned in exposing Robert Schuller as a major player in the New Age movement…

Ironically and alarmingly, Schuller is also a major player in the Christian church. Having spent great attention on exposing Schuller as a false teacher, the author then shows the connection between Schuller and Rick Warren.

Warren trained extensively under Schuller and acknowledges him as one of his primary influences. Many of the concepts and even sentences from The Purpose Driven Lifeare taken directly or almost directly from Schuller’s writings, and these were in turn culled from New Age material.

The author provides many examples of this, but I will contain myself to one. In this brief section Warren quotes from the New Century Translation:

The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren – “The Bible says, ‘He rules everything and is everywhere and is in everything.’”

Hour of Power (November 9, 2003) by Robert Schuller – “Yes, God is alive and He is in every single human being!”

Prescriptions for Living by Bernie Siegel – “God is in everyone and everything.”

There are many similar (and even more clear) examples where Warren has borrowed or even plagarized the writings of Schuller. The conclusion we must draw if that Schuller is as corrupt as Smith portrays him, we must necessarily be suspect of Warren and any others who have trained under Schuller…

I believe it has many important things to say and that Christians need to evaluate the teachings of Warren to see if they are consistent with the Scriptures… Warren [Smith] has written a book that is alarming, but not apocalyptic – a book that shows a love for the church and a godly concern for her welfare.

I highly recommend this one. (source)

Tim Challies

Further reading