It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5:1)

Protestant Evangelicalism Returning To Religious Slavery

Today Purpose Driven Pope Rick Warren, who announces with trumpets humbly shares in his Twitter bio that he’s, “Champion of planters/pastors/worship ldrs. Cheerleader/mentor for next gen leaders. Tell me-I’ll follow u. Trained 400,000 pastors in162 nations. Loves doubters,” pontificates:

Kingdom-minded leaders give children’s & student ministry PRIORITY “…They ARE the kingdom of God!”-Jesus. Love Next Gen!7 minutes ago from web (Online source)

Apparently for, our Southern Baptist King “Kingdom-minded” leader, pastor Warren his own “love” of this “Next Gen” includes making sure that his Saddleback Church exposes them to corrupt Counter Reformation Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism (CSM), which masquerades as so-called Spiritual Formation ala Living Spiritual Teacher and Quaker mystic Richard Foster and his spiritual twin Dallas Willard. In other words, CSM developed within apostate Roman Catholicism and was rejected by God’s Reformers.

But as you can see in SBC Protestant Pastor Rick Warren Double-Minded On The Reformation And Roman Catholicism “minor” details like that don’t concern the PDL Pope. And in addition these young people at Warren’s Saddlback castle are led to drink from heretical teachings at the polluted mystic well of false teachers of pseudo-Christianity like quasi-universalist Rob Bell, the Elvis of the egregiously ecumenical Emerging Church aka Emergent Church de-formation of the Christian faith—now morphing into Emergence Christianity (EC).

The EC is truly a cult of postmodern liberalism growing within mainstream evangelicalism, which I dare say such as these like heretical universalist pastor Doug Pagitt—half of a most dubious duo of the EC along with his equally heretical “theologian in residence” Tony Jones—are even more dangerous than their evil forebears in what cult expert Dr. Walter Martin labeled “the Cult of Liberal Theology.” As one who’s been studying this Liberalism 2.0, who’ve now upgraded the software of old liberalism to include the miraculous, I can tell you CSM was a core doctrine from its inception.

You need to understand that the Emerging/ent/ence Church is, at its rotten root, a rebellion against the foundational pillar of Sola Scriptura because these stupid spiritual “disciplines” of CSM [read: ascetic pietism] can’t stand when exposed to light of God’s Word. Verses such as the opening text are clear warnings about a religion of “doing” in order to please God when Christ Jesus has already “done” for us what pleases God. No one is arguing against progessive sanctification but even that is the work of the Spirit of Jesus in regenerated Christians baptized by God into the Body of Christ.

Returning to PDL Pope Warren, and remember that links at the Saddleback site have a myserious way of suddenly vanishing when exposed, in their “Spiritual Growth Center”—as of this writing anyway—under “Must Read Books” we find the Scripture-twisting classic Purpose Driven Life and Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning, a key teacher of spurious CSM originating in Eastern spirituality. In his excellent book A Time of Departing Christian researcher Ray Yungen, who works with Lighthouse Trails Research—a leading ministry countering CSM, explains that in Manning’s:

The Signature of Jesus, Manning teaches how to suspend thought. He instructs his readers methodically:

[T]he first step in faith is to stop thinking about God at the time of prayer.[C]ontemplative spirituality tends to emphasize the need for a change in consciousness … we must come to see reality differently.

Choose a single, sacred word … repeat the sacred word inwardly, slowly, and often.

[E]nter into the great silence of God. Alone in that silence, the noise within will subside and the Voice of Love will be heard.

If one could draw a spiritual tree of both Manning’s and [Richard] Foster’s mystical heritage it would look like this: from India—to Alexandria— to the Desert Fathers—to Thomas Merton—to them; and now, through them and others like them—to you. What it should look like is: from the triune God—to His holy prophets and apostles—to you. Very simple! That, my friend, is the decisive factor of this controversy. (Online source)

The Same Spurious Spiritual Practices Will Lead To The Same Spurious Spirituality

Former Sadleback “Teaching Pastor” Doug Fields, who resigned last month, is author of the book Purpose Driven Youth Ministry of which Warren himself contributes the foreword. Again as of this writing, at the Saddleback site Fields’ recommendation remain, where he lists Mannings’ musings first—and then includes Richard Foster’s magnum opus of mysticism Celebration of Discipline—which Dr. Gary Gilley has rightly called “an encyclopedia of theological error.” And sure enough, at his Doug Fields’ Simply Youth Ministry (SYM) website we find him recommending EC icon Rob Bell: 

How To Pick 6

Select the NOOMA video that you’d like from the selection below. You can view a short preview by clicking the “PREVIEW” button, and the video will show up on the right in the video player. Once you’re readY to make your pick, drag the box image to an open slot or just DOUBLE CLICK to add your selection to the boxes below. Now repeat! (Online source, bold his)

Bell’s mythology has about as much to do with Protestant evangelicalism as the Dalai Lama, and in very fact, his approach to Christian spirituality is more akin to Buddha than Christ. At Apprising Ministries here, almost a year ago, in Saddleback Church Pastors Using Rob Bell Teachings I also showed you that according to Wikipedia Doug Fields is also:

In 2006, Fields changed roles from Saddleback’s Pastor of Student Ministries to Pastor of Life Development (which oversees the children, student, and college ministries). With an ever growing demand of speaking, writing and leadership/ministry consulting, Doug resigned from Saddleback Church in September 2009. This is allowing him to pursue ministry opportunities that best aligned with his gift for teaching,…

He will continue to preach from time to time in Warren’s absence… He is the founder of SimplyYouthMinistry.com [1] and a frequent speaker at Youth Specialties and other national youth ministry conferences… Though Fields does not have his own blog, Saddleback’s High School Pastor, Josh Griffin, hosts a blog, [3]. (Online source)

Now for those who don’t know Youth Specialties extends from the Emergent Church and also heavily promotes spurious CSM, as well as foolish interspirituality. A search for “Rob Bell” at Fields’ SYM turns up two links to Griffin’s blog. The aforementioned Griffin just happens to be:

the High School Pastor at Saddleback Church in Lake Forrest, CA. He also somewhat randomly co-owns the largest Star Wars fansite in the world TheForce.Net (Online source) 

At his MoreThanDodgeball website we find “Noomas for $10 Each” where the “High School Pastor” for the Southern Baptist Saddleback Church,  Josh Griffin, informs us:

We’ve used the Nooma videos (Rob Bell) with good success this year as a supplement to our regular high school ministry small group material – and Andy just let me know that YouthMinistry.com is running a sale on them – Pick 6 Nooma. $10 a piece is good! (Online source, emphasis mine)

One still wonders just what kind of “success” they’ve had with Bell’s man-centered musings. And the second link, “6 Podcasts You Should Be Listening To,” leaves no doubt that the highly ecumenical and also decidedly non-Protestant teachings of Rob Bell are welcomed in Saddleback Church where PDL Pope Rick Warren is Senior Pastor. And as I said many times before, Saddleback is with the SBC, which itself is the largest pretending to be “Protestant” denomination in the United States. But still the high school pastor at SC writes:

Millions of people listen to podcasts (think radio shows on demand) every week – here’s 6 you should be sure not to miss: Mars Hill Bible Church – Great weekly teaching from Rob Bell and others. There’s a NOOMA show as well, but I prefer this one. (Online source, emphasis mine)

If you actually care about young people as I do, why don’t you actually make the time to check the articles and follow the links within to see what a neo-Gnostics like Rob Bell and their synthetic world-view shaped by their neo-pagan practices of contemplative spirituality i.e. high subjective mysticism are really all about. And if you do, then just maybe the Lord will turn on the light for you and you’ll understand why a few months ago I told you that The Nightmare Is Just Beginning For Mainstream Evangelicalism.

See also:

ROB BELL PREACHES ON TWITTER

IS ROB BELL EVANGELICAL?

ROB BELL IN A NUTSHELL: THE BIBLE

RANK HERESY BEING PREACHED AT MHBC OF ROB BELL

SHANE HIPPS EXPOSED II

CONTEMPLATIVE SPIRITUALITY GROWING WITHIN MAINSTREAM EVANGELICALISM

DISCIPLINES TO DECEPTION IN SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION