Jennifer Knapp, Lesbianism, Rick Warren, and Scripture. Oh My!

Rick Warren, in his talk at TED2006, stated (at approx. 21:00 in the video) that “God Smiles when You Be You”. He states a few seconds later that God gets pleasure out of “you being you.”

Friends, there’s a big problem with this message. Rick was speaking to an audience that was primarily non-Christians. Jesus Christ was never mentioned. Instead a humanistic message that “God loves us for being us” was given. This message is not the Gospel, obviously, but the worst part, is that as a Christian pastor, Rick Warren basically just opened the floodgates for any behavior at all. Believers and non-believers alike can now simply do whatever they want, and think (based upon Rick) that God will smile upon them, and receive pleasure from people being whoever they desire to be.

Being a pastor myself, my first thoughts were, “What do Scriptures say about this?” The first passage that came to mind was this:

1Peter 1:14-19: As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, (15) but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; (16) because it is written, “YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.” (17) If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth; (18) knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, (19) but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.

Now let’s take Rick’s message and apply it to Jennifer Knapp, the “Christian” who is now publicly stating that she’s a lesbian.

She appeared on Larry King Live just the other day, and made this statement:

Larry King: You say you’re the happiest you’ve ever been right now?
Jennifer Knapp: I’m pretty darn happy.
Larry King: So you’re glad all of this happened?
Jennifer Knapp: I am not a regretfull person.
Larry King: No, but you feel better?
Jennifer Knapp: I’m… I… I feel blessed to be able to fully be who I am. I love being able to be a musician and part of that process for me as a musician is being open and honest and to not feel like I have to lie or hide anything. I don’t necessarily want to talk about it all the time, but I don’t have to hide it either.

So based on what Rick Warren states, that God takes pleasure in “you being you”, Jennifer is currently being smiled upon by God, and He is taking pleasure in the fact that she is a lesbian.

Huh? How does that work?

Peter, speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote “..be holy yourselvces also in all your behavior, because it is written, ‘YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY’”

So which is it? Is Rick right, or is God right? Did God actually mean what he said in Scripture? If so, how does it apply to me? When will the evangelical world wake up and see that Rick Warren’s humanistic man-centered Gospel is at direct odds with what Scripture teaches?

I pray that Jennifer comes to her senses, and that she is “snatched from the fire.” Her behavior and blatant lesbian lifestyle have made herx profession of faith as a Christian into nothing. What a sad commentary this is on the holiness of the church and the lack of biblical discernment on the part of Jennifer.

Be sure to check out Ken Silva’s Apprising.org article here where the videos of Jennifer on Larry King Live are posted.

Rick Warren’s Social Gospel Strikes Again

First, let me start this post by saying this: I DO believe that Christians should be leading the world when it comes to helping the poor, helping orphans, and other ways that we help socially. (After all, I work full-time as a chaplain at a Christ-centered drug rehab center and homeless shelter. So I regularly see Christians who come to where I work and are challenged to do more.) HOWEVER, and this is a big issue with me, adopting orphans is not a litmus test that one is a Christian.

This article at www.ChristianPost.com shows just how slippery the social gospel can be. The social Gospel downplays the spiritual aspects of Chritianity, and is willing to partner with whomever will help them meet their humanistic goals. True Christianity is always God-centered in essence. But with his Global P.E.A.C.E. plan it’s becoming obvious that Rick Warren is replacing the true Gospel with one that is socially driven. Kay Warren (Rick Warren’s wife) made the following comments:

“If we are doing little to nothing, how dare we, how dare we claim to be followers of Jesus Christ,” she said Friday. “Followers of Jesus Christ care about widows and orphans and they understand that it is a litmus test.

“It is not an option.”

Just to make sure that I understood Kay properly, I looked up the definition of “litmus test” to make sure her definition fits mine. Here are two definitions for litmus test that seem to fit:

1) a critical indication of future success or failure or
2) A test that uses a single indicator to prompt a decision

Yes, we should care about orphans and widows. Absolutely we should. BUT, caring for orphans and widows is not the litmus test for whether one is a Christian or not.

ChristianPost.com goes on to quote Kay to say:

“It has nothing to do with personality, it has nothing to do with spiritual gifts, it has nothing to do with economic status, it has nothing to do with your season in life,” she stressed. “It has to do with accepting the responsibility that God will one day hold us accountable.”

And it’s not just a matter of personal responsibility either, she indicated.

There is a theological reason all Christians are to do something to help vulnerable children.

Warren highlighted: “What our Heavenly Father does for us spiritually, He expects us to do physically.”

What God did was not only save sinners but also bring them into His family.

“You and I were all spiritual orphans,” she said. “We’re not just cleared of the guilt of our sin. We belong in God’s family. He has taken us and made us part of Himself.

As Christians, we are told in Scripture:
“Col 1:13-14 For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, (14) in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

We’re also told by Christ that whatever we do to the least of these (on earth) we do unto him. Yet we are not told that we are saved by our good works. We do good works because we are saved. (Ephesians 2:8-9 for starters).

But when social gospel preachers and leaders get people to simply focus on doing good for the sake of doing good, then the Gospel has been compromised. As Christians, we should be so enamored with the Lord, following Him so closely, that we do good works out of love for him, not so we can show others our good deeds outwardly.

Kay goes on to say that she and Rick haven’t adopted a child yet either. Go figure. You see, Christian leaders need to be desperately pointing out to anyone who will listen that our main problem isn’t AIDS, poverty, homelessness, etc. Our biggest problem is sin. To make matters worse, many evangelicals are so enamored with solving social problems (don’t get me wrong, we do need to assist the poor and needy), that they’ve forgotten their first love. What Warren needs to do is proclaim Christ and Him crucified to a lost and dying world.

THEN, after our hearts are in the right place, and we are God-centered and focused on worshipping Him first and foremost, we can care for the social ills.

I am reminded of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well. Sure she was an outcast (multiple husbands and a Samaritan ), yet Jesus didn’t address her from a social standpoint, but instead went to the HEART of the issue. She was living a sinful life, with a man not her husband, and had no clear understanding of who Messiah was, or even what Jesus was offering her. Yet Jesus didn’t compromise. He offered her life, abundant life.

Friends, we must do the same. Yes, help the poor, the needy, the orphans, the widows. BUT, never forget that our first and primary goal is to love the LORD, and to give Him the glory He so richly deserves.

Review: Brian McLaren’s “A New Kind of Christianity”, Pt. 2 “UN-Faith”

Brian McLaren’s new book “A New Kind of Christianity” (abbreviated as ANKoC from now on) starts with Ch. 1: “Between something Real and Something Wrong”. As I read through Brian’s first chapter, I was rather surprised that someone who is touted as an author and free-thinker would be so wrong in just a few short pages.

I will readily admit that some of the statistics Brian quotes are sobering. But the conclusions he draws from these statistics display where the real error occurs. For instance, McLaren draws from Jim Peterson’s “Evangelism as a Lifstyle” – Navpress 1985, in which Brian says that the church was losing touch with “normal people” and “It’s preachers had forgotten how to speak their language.” While their may be problems in evangelical Christianity, certainly the preachers are not called to speak the language of “normal people” but instead they’re called to speak the language of God, spreading the good news of the Gospel to a dying world, where the “normal people” are lost in sin without Christ.

As a pastor, I know my calling is to preach God’s word. It’s to proclaim His truth in love. Yet to Brian, the answers that he’s coming up with stray from that calling. For instance, McLaren states on p. 6 of ANKoC that when people came up to him with questions after listening to him preach for six months, that:

“I would give them my best answers, but often after they left, I felt hollow. If they “bought” my answers I was strangely disappointed. If they pushed back and told me my answers still made no sense to them, I thought, “Good for you, because some of them don’t really make that much snse to me either.” (ANKoC p. 6)

I am immediately reminded of Paul taking young Timothy under his wing. In 2 Timothy 2:1-2, Paul writes under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit:

“You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. (2) The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”

First, Timothy was to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. He was not to waver. He was remain true to his teaching, which had come from Paul and was certainly confirmed within Timothy by the Holy Spirit. Second, Timothy was told to “entrust” the teachings he’d received from Paul to faithful men. In other words, Timothy was to take others and teach them as he had been taught by Paul, and since this was to be through the strength that comes from the grace that is in Christ Jesus, it would have to be the case that the Holy Spirit would confirm within Timothy that what Paul taught him lined up with Scripture.

This is not the case with Brian McLaren. Do you hear from the quote above on p. 6 that Brian himself doesn’t really put a lot of faith in the historic, orthodox teachings of the church? No wonder he went to other places to search for truth! Not only was he floundering over the truth, but McLaren later goes on to say on the same page that after a while their questions became his questions. His new-found faith was based on doubt!

Now don’t get me wrong, we SHOULD examine ourselves to see if we are indeed in the faith:

2Co 13:5 Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you–unless indeed you fail the test?

And again:

Acts 17:10-11 The brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. (11) Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.

And therein lies the problem. Brian makes the case over the course of his book that we’ve gotten it all wrong. He makes a big strawman argument (which I will point out soon in another chapter review), and mischaracterizes true Christianity. Why? Because He doesn’t believe it to be true. He modifies the truth to fit his liking.

When Brian talks about his “disillusionment” with the Christian community during the 80’s and 90’s, he makes this argument:

“They wanted to protect unborn human life inside the womb, but didn’t seem to care about born human life in slums or prisons or nations they considered enemies. They loved to paint gay people as a threat to marriage, seeming to miss the irony that heterosexual people were damaging marriage at a furious pace without any help from gay couples.”

OK, this just doesn’t make sense. Is Brian trying to make the case that because church pastors didn’t stand up against rampant divorce and infidelity (even among Christians) that it’s now OK to love the homosexual lifestyle? (He answers that in chapter 17 “Can We Find A Way to Address Human Sexuality Without Fighting About it?” And unfortunately, when we get to that chapter, the answer he presents is anything but Biblical.) Just because pastors have done a lousy job of preaching the truth about sexual purity, personal holiness, etc. doesn’t give Brian the right to rampantly gut what the Bible says about ANY issue, not just homosexuality.

He continuously makes a case that there is a “brutal tension between something real and something wrong” in the faith. (ANKoC p. 7) The “something real” is apparently his view, and the something wrong is the “Greco-Roman” worldview strawman argument that Brian believes the rest of us conservative believers hold. After time though, he tips his hand and lets us see his cards:

“My spirituality was intact – because I was learning that there is a kind of faith that runs deeper than mere beliefs – but my belief system was in shambles. Little by little, though, a new coherence begant to emerge. That coherence was more a new way of believing, less a rebuilt system of beliefs, and I felt compelled to try to share what I was learning and experiencing. So I began to write, and from that time of theolofical collapse and spiritual recovery, my first book took shape, The Church on the other Side.”

This is the key to understanding McLaren.

McLaren readily admits that his belief system was in shambles. What he believed was falling apart, and as a result he was hobbling together a new belief system that would be based on doubting many of the core beliefs that makes Christianity what it is. During this time he “felt compelled” to try to share what he was learning and experiencing. So here’s the crux of it: Brian McLaren was having a faith crisis, and he was writing about it, and passing off his new-found doubt as the new faith of Christianity.

Let’s get something straight. I have no doubt that there are problems in evangelical circles. That’s true. But men of God don’t shipwreck the faith of others by casting doubt everywhere they go. Real men of God speak the truth in love.

So now that he has painted his side as one that is slowly coming to believe what is “right”, let’s take a look at what he poses as the “other side”. (THat would be us conservative, orthodox Christians who believe the bible is inerrant):

“The other side” referred to a position after the beginning of what I called the “postmodern transition.” On the past (“before”- side of the transition, in the modern era, nearly all our Protestant denominations had been formed. They were insitutuional children of the era of Sir Isaac Newton, the conquistadors, colonialism, the Enlightenment, nationalism, and capitalism. each denomination made sense of Christianity within the lines and boxes of modernity. You might say they rewrote and rearranged the anciend “data” of Christianity…..”

As for Brian’s definition of Christianity, he slams us as being part of a modernistic mindset, that is antiquated and behind the times. My question would be why does inception during the Modern era make something bad? Instead, Christianity is a product of Christ. Those who are truly following Christ don’t sit down and think, “You know, I need to make sure that what I believe was steeped in modernism.” Yet Brian’s argument later is that Christianity is fractured because of this very reason, that we are of a “colonial” mindset. Keep in mind that he is writing this of people that he is calling his “fellow Christians”, who are indwelt with the Holy Spirit. Many modern inventions that help man are from modernity. Should we throw them out too?

Instead Brian paints his “side of the equation” as follows:

“…the old modern paradigm…. was giving way to a new postmodern paradigm of pluralism, relativism, globalism and uncertainty – or at least a different kind of certainty, at its best more akin ro humble confidence. Modern Protestantism in both its liberal and conservative forms was being lost in transition and lost in translation.”

McLaren even goes so far as to say that those of us who are Protestants “seemed equally clueless” to what was going on outside of our churches. Brian’s broad-brush painting of Protestantism while wearing myopic glasses has painted a picture of us that’s simply untrue. Where in Scripture are we told that being pragmatic and relevant are the answers to a lost and dying world that so desperately needs a Savior? Instead we read the following in Hebrews:

Hebrews 11:32-40 And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, (33) who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, (34) quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. (35) Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection; (36) and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. (37) They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated (38) (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground. (39) And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, (40) because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.

Those who were of faith were men of whom the world was not worthy, wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground. Does that sound like pragmatism? Does that sound like a description of being relevant? No, it does not.

Even in this first chapter Brian reveals where it is that he went astray. He was listening to polluted wells, sources who were also writing and agreeing with him, yet they themselves were not holding to traditional, orthodox Christianity, people like: Brian Walsh, Stan Grenz, and Leonard Sweet. McLaren writes:

“In spite of our diverse backgrounds, we all agreed: something isn’t working in the way we’re doing Christianity anymore. And although we didn’t know exactly what to do about it, we knew that we needed to keep talking and searching together- through the Internet, conferences and retreats, books and networks. So our quest for a new kind of Christianity had begun.”

Notice what’s missing from McLaren’s search: the Scriptures! Having heaped up for himself teachers, authors, writers, and conference speakers who were saying what he wanted to hear, it’s apparent from his new book that he’s drifted even further off course.

How could he not drift away from historic Christianity when he gives credence to people like Phyllis Tickle? This is the same woman who said at Rob Bell’s church that when we’re taking communion we’re “feeding the god within us”. She’s also said that it’s only a matter of time before Sola Scripture is gone. Beyond this she has continued to deny many core Christian beliefs and is a promoter of homosexual marriage.

With McLaren drawing from such polluted sources, no wonder he’s gone astray.

Stay tuned, and next the next installment will show even more problems with the “un-faith” of Brian McLaren.

Rick Warren and His Pragmatic Approach to Everything

Over at the JewishJournal.com, the following article on Rick Warren was published today:

Religious Leaders Meet for Interfaith Dialogue at Sinai Temple

As extensive security and police cruisers guarded the entrance, Rabbi David Wolpe, Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church, Najeeba Syeed-Miller, CEO of the Center for Civic Engagement and Dialogue, and Reverend Cecil “Chip” Murray, retired pastor of First AME Church came together at Sinai Temple in Westwood on Tuesday, April 20 for an interfaith dialogue in honor of the 62nd anniversary of Israel’s independence. Moderated by Tavis Smiley, PBS National Talk Show host, the event was also hosted by America Jewish Committee (AJC).

During the hour-long dialogue, Smiley directed pointed questions to each of the guests. Without shying away from the difficult issues, Smiley pressed them on questions of church and state, the value of inter-religious dialogue, and the reality of what could be accomplished through events like this.

Mentioning the introduction by Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel of Martin Luther King prior to King’s “I Have a Dream” speech nearly 40 years ago, Smiley asked the group to address the fact that “it seems like this kind of inter-religious dialogue has been going on for years.”

“I could suggest that the evidence suggests that it ain’t yielding a whole lot,” he said.

In response, Warren was frank: “I don’t think that dialogue has a very good track record, but working together does have a good track record. I don’t think you have to agree to get things done.”

Throughout the evening, a common theme was how to find issues upon which people of different faiths can agree, and therefore on which they can work together. The most important aspect of any interfaith effort, all panelists agreed, was that those involved treat one another with more than just tolerance, but respect, and even love.

“Tolerance is, you have your opinion, it’s wrong, but I’m not going to hurt you for it,” Wolpe said. “Love is, you have something to teach me, I have something to teach you, we have a connection that goes deeper even than our teaching. I see in you another image of God.”

Not only did this group talk on how people of different faiths can agree, but there were also prayer in multiple languages.

Did you notice that Rick went straight for the pragmatic jugular of working together? As Ken Silva at Apprising.org says in his piece “Rick Warren and Purpose Driven Roman Catholics” (concerning Rick Warren’s chameleon-like ability to change his colors):

…and this, yet again, is Warren professing to believe one thing and actually doing something else. So as I answer Dr. Piper’s request for “help to know why I should feel bad about this decision” I’ll tell you that the above would place Rick Warren, at the very least since it concerns a matter as central to the historic Christian faith as the Gospel of Jesus Christ, right here in Scripture — he is a double-minded man, which then makes him unstable in all his ways (James 1:8).

Rick is compromising the Word of God:

2 Corinthians 6:14-15 Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? (15) Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever?

Yes, I understand that feeding the hungry, helping the poor, doing justice to those wronged are all Christian works, but where does Scripture say that we must yoke ourselves up to unbelievers to do it?

We don’t read where Rick, when given the opportunity, witnessed to these folks. Where is his concern and compassion for the LOST that were sitting in the room with him? Oh, that Rick would repent, and worship Christ alone! Then he would present the Gospel like a man of God, not a man-pleaser who downplays the very thing that makes us different from Jews, Muslims, and others of various faiths.

Rom 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

New Sermon MP3 added: Matthew 12:20-30

I’ve added a new sermon to the blog. I preached at the Waterfront Rescue Mission on 4-15-2010. The sermon was based on Matthew 11:20-30, and is approx. 45 minutes in length.

Click here to Listen to it, or right-click and select “Save As” to save a copy on your local PC. You have my permission to burn the sermon to CD or put it on your IPOD, and distribute it to whomever you’d like.