Rick Warren's Shallow Gospel

Rick Warren talks a lot about "the gospel." At the recent Exponential 2013 conference, which was hosted by Warren's Saddleback Church, the theme was preaching the gospel and making disciples. But what gospel does he preach? In chapter 7 of his ultra-popular book The Purpose Driven Life, he explains as follows how to become a Christian: "First, believe. Believe God loves you and made you for his purposes. Believe you're not an accident. Believe you were made to last forever. Believe God has chosen you to have a relationship with Jesus, who died on the cross for you. Believe that no matter what you've done, God wants to forgive you. Second, receive. Receive his forgiveness for your sins. Receive his Spirit, who will give you the power to fulfill your life purpose. ... Wherever you are reading this, I invite you to bow your head and quietly whisper the prayer that will change your eternity. 'Jesus, I believe in you and I receive you.' Go ahead. If you sincerely meant that prayer, congratulations! Welcome to the family of God!" (The Purpose Driven Life, pp. 58, 59). This is one of the most superficial "gospels" I have ever seen. It's certainly not the gospel that was preached in the book of Acts or Romans. There is no clear dealing with sin, such as we find in Romans 1-3. There is nothing about God's holiness and justice. There is no clear teaching on what Jesus did on the cross. There is nothing about the blood of Christ. Warren invites the reader to "believe on Jesus" but he does not warn of false christs, such as the false Jesus of The Shack or the Roman Catholic wafer Jesus or the New Age yoga Jesus or the Mormon "brother of Lucifer" Jesus. And Warren completely ignores repentance. In contrast, the apostle Paul summarized his message as follows: "Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts 20:21). Paul said that God "now commandeth all men every where to repent" (Acts 17:30), and we can be sure that God hasn't changed His mind. Beware of Rick Warren. He is an end-time bridge builder extraordinaire for the apostate one-world "church."

(Friday Church News Notes, October 18, 2013, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

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