People ask why I do not recommend Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Life to learn about God’s purposes for our lives. I have enjoyed and profited from all the things the book tells Christians to do. I agree with them. His main point for us is to make God’s plans the first priority in our life and to surrender our life to Him. I heartily agree.
However, I studied his Purpose Driven Life and noticed that often his quotations from “the Bible” are not Biblical. He uses many translations and paraphrases which he still calls “The Bible;” and even in using those he sometimes omits very important content from the passages and in his writing about them. He has made major omissions that have changed the gospel message inconspicuously so that it corresponds with the essential occult teachings of the New Age.
HE HAS OMITTED, and removed from view, several major teachings in the Bible:
· The existence of real evil and wickedness in the unseen spirit world is missing. He writes about evil as only a lack of mature character and a right attitude in humans.
· The spiritual battle with the devil and his demons in “high places” that all Christians must fight is omitted. From this omission seasoned Christians may infer that Christ has won that battle for us and we need not trouble ourselves with it, and new converts may never learn about it. The only warfare mentioned in the book is our fight against “our self-centered nature” (PDL p. 81), which is not the “wrestling” against principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this world, and spiritual wickedness that Paul describes. (Eph. 6:11-13)
· The Biblical meaning of sin, the intrinsic sinfulness of men, and the need to repent and have a savior to save them from eternal damnation and punishment in hell are not in his book. He mentions hell but downplays it by saying that the punishment is basically “eternal separation from God;” and he says it comes from “rejecting Christ” (p. 37) instead of from one’s sin. He says that the root of all sin is simply self-centeredness and “not giving God the glory.” (pp. 54-55) He does not use the words evil, wickedness, unrighteousness, or disobedience to God, which are the Bible’s clear definitions of sin. Saint John tells us “Sin is the transgression of the law.” (1 John 3:4) Warren talks of it as merely mistakes, stumbling, lack of maturity, hurting the community, etc.
· The righteousness and justice attributes of God are not mentioned. He is depicted only as a God of love, who is not to be feared. We need to do what God wants only in order to return our love for his display of love for us. Paul is completely misquoted (p. 76) to say that his life goal was “to please him,” whereas Paul really said it was “to be accepted by him” before “the judgment seat of Christ.” (1)
· In summary: Warren’s book has hidden (a) the whole reason Christ had to come and die; (b) why we must repent and be saved; (c) the spiritual battle that we will lose against powerful and deceptive enemies unless we can discern them and their false teachings (lies); and (d) the Biblical portrayal of God so we can know Him and obey him instead of thinking of him as only a god of love who simply wants to be pleased with us or glorified by us.
The King James Bible says, “The Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.” (1 John 3:8) Christ came to destroy the influence of the devil’s dark forces on the world, which incite people to join Satan’s kingdom in rebellion against God, disobey God’s commandments and help Satan build his dream world, his global kingdom on earth. This battle between Satan and God (and God’s children) will continue until after the antichrist appears as the ruler of the global empire that is being built by national rulers agreeing to give away their sovereignty to a one-world government. God did not send Christ here simply to save us from our sins, which the PDL implies.
All Warren says about the devil is that he tempts Christians, and if they cannot avoid an especially persuasive temptation by their own efforts they can find some Scriptures (which are not named) to use against the devil. So Satan is no big problem!
In the true Biblical message, God is “Holy, Holy, Holy,” which the seraphim said; and Isaiah cried out, “Woe is me! For I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.” (Isaiah 6: 3, 5) In the largely unbiblical message of the PDL and liberal theologians God is “Love, Love, Love” and he certainly does not cause us to fear him or to frighten us by revealing our wretchedness and sin.
All the omissions I listed make Warren’s message concur with the fundamental tenets of New Age teaching. This plays into the devil’s hand in the battle against God. New Age occultists follow Satan’s leading and believe the same thing that Warren is teaching by his omissions, namely: There is no evil in the spirit world, no serious sin in people; no war going on between Satan and God in which everyone is a pawn in the game; so there is no need for a savior for our sins or even for repentance. Many New Age believers even believe in Jesus as their master teacher for the Western World, and say we should “become like Christ” – the same as the PDL.
Warren may not realize that his book gives that much credence to the New Age religion. He may just think his message is more appealing than messages that scare people about sin and judgment and which may not win so many converts. He wants to improve on the sermons of the past and the Bible’s way of teaching!
New Age worshippers believe that without a savior they can follow the LIGHT that comes to them through metaphysical readings, from books that seem to be explaining the secret meaning of the Bible or sacred books of other religions. Novitiates think they are learning the meaning of God’s Word. Spirit guides “channel” messages to New Age leaders, which become the secret esoteric curriculum. Followers hope they are acquiring the knowledge that God has hidden, which the serpent promised Eve if she would disobey God. They are taught that they are already part of God because “He rules everything, is everywhere, and is in everything,” which Rick Warren’s quote from the New Century Version says! (2) Warren may not personally believe all the implications of that quotation, but the authors of the “Bible” he quotes probably do.
Occult spirit guides are Satan’s demons. Often they masquerade as Jesus Christ, as in “The Course of Miracles” that Robert Schuller has advertised in his church. Schuller was a mentor of Rick Warren.(3) I think such New Age teachings have influenced Warren’s writings.
Warren uses the Biblical words sin, evil, repentance, etc., but not with the Bible’s seriousness. To him repentance is only a “change of mind.” A “sin” he hates most is disagreement in the church, which disturbs its peace and unity. He is training his small groups to avoid it, and many people find they must leave his church if they do not learn that lesson. In his “P.E.A.C.E. Plan,” which he calls “God’s dream,” missionaries must model unity and peace in order for peace to occur in the coming world government. The Bible tells of the present time when “peace” will be the talk of the age, but it will never come through man’s efforts.
Satan wants to have pastors hide the crucial omissions enumerated above so his work will be concealed. This transforms the message about God and Christ into one that could be entitled “The Gospel According to Satan.” It is my opinion that the desire to omit them comes to Christian leaders from that “Angel of Light;” or some demon; or some human “angel of light” who is really following Lucifer but may even be a respected minister or seminary professor.
Why do so many pastors like the book? It is easy to see the many fine recommendations for Christians to do that Warren proposes. I do not think many pastors have noticed the omission of all the ideas I have mentioned, because they become noticeable only by comparing his quotations with a standard translation like the King James. When ideas are missing in the text they do not stand out, so they are not missed. It takes much effort to find the omissions in Warren’s quotations because the verses must be found and compared, and his “chapter and verse” for every citation is almost inaccessibly hidden. The reader must (1) first hunt backwards for the “Day” that one is reading, which is not written on the page; (2) then find the footnote number of the quotation; (3) then go to almost the end of the book and find the list of “Days”; (4) then find the day and footnote number; (5) then, for the first time, find the chapter and verse, along with initials of the translation he was using (its title is listed somewhere else); (6) then get the standard version you want to compare with and find the chapter and verse; and (7) finally compare the standard version with the passage in his book. Only then does the omission of important ideas become obvious and does not take a genius to notice.
Warren could have saved all that trouble for readers by simply putting a chapter abbreviation and verse number by each quotation. It would appear that he does not want readers making that comparison. It took much effort and endurance for me to learn that he consistently omits those vital concepts from quotations and also from his book. I have become convinced that it was purposeful. Also, I infer from his book title that he is purpose-driven in his work.
Many modern pastors leave out words in quoting the Bible, like Warren does, in order to keep the message only “positive” and keep from scaring people. That is very dangerous. It is not wrong to emphasize positive ideas in the Bible, but not by excluding contexts that develop the Bible’s meaning. God is displeased with that, to say the least. God told Saint John the Divine the following about omissions, even if not done for ulterior motives: “And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” (Rev. 22:19). Deut. 4:2 expresses the same commandment. So I believe God’s severe penalty applies to the entire Word of God, not just the last book in it. A pastor must teach “the whole counsel of God.”
So God promises to punish Bible expositors severely for omitting text in order to hide it because that makes the teaching false, apostate, and damnable. I think it would be compassionate for a friend to refer the verses in Revelation and Deuteronomy to Pastor Warren, which might save him from the hell, fire and damnation that he does not preach about. It might also make him revise his book so God would be pleased with it, which Warren says is all God wants from us. This would save a lot of “Christians” from being misled into thinking that obedience to God does not matter much and that He evidently removed all their sins without even asking them to repent.
If his book were changed, many of his followers would be saved from eternal punishment. Christians must do what the Bible tells them to do. That includes: devotedly worship the One true Holy God; believe and follow Christ Jesus by doing what he and his Father command; avoid doing what the devil wants and cast him out in Jesus’ name; repent seriously for sins and then change wicked, disobedient ways with the help of the Holy Spirit; confess any sins that still hang on by habit and keep trying to get rid of them; and fight the good fight against spiritual evil in high places and in the world until death comes.
It is certainly not enough to do the watered down version of those ideas that are in the PDL, which appear to be the following: Intellectually try to surrender their life to a God of Love who no one needs to fear; to “receive” or “accept” Christ’s forgiveness for sins they do not repent about or regret; to try to become like Christ in some way they think would please God and would give them joy; to avoid doing things that they think may be bad; to “change their mind” about behavior that is inappropriate in their culture; to “confess” to their peers their mistakes or failures to do what their pastors tell them to do; to get along with people and stop fighting with the church or community (starting with the small group “community”); and to do some secular work at home and abroad in Christ’s name to make the world a better place to live in.
That is the “spirituality” that I see Warren’s omissions has produced in his little book. That is the visible part of the ecumenical “new spirituality” that will be demanded in the coming world government because it does not make anybody behave according to the Bible’s demands. The believers will not be significantly different or separate from other world citizens so most of them will be good communitarians and do what the community or government decides for them, even if it breaks God’s laws. The invisible part of this “new spirituality” is the worship of Lucifer by its leaders.
Many pastors need to educate their flocks about the dark side and its influence on our lives and on the pastors who have been deceived by Satan and have become false teachers by following the leadership of the Church Growth Movement or liberal seminaries. This would save many Christians who will otherwise be deceived and “fall away” in the end times. (2 Thes. 2:3)
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(1) Warren’s misquotation (p. 76, 2 Cor. 5:9) says “to please him” because its whole context has been omitted. The KJV says, 9 “Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. 10For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.”
(2) This is cited on p. 88. Warren says, “The Bible says ‘He rules everything and is everywhere and in everything.’” [Underlining is mine.] That is pantheism, the key belief of the occult and New Age. He is quoting Eph. 4:6b in the New American Century version instead of the King James, which says, 6 “…God…who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” Paul was writing to believers in the church at Ephesus, saying “God is in you.” God is not “in everything,” which includes non-believers. However, to his credit, Warren says we cannot become God (p. 79), which many New Age believers infer from that pantheistic statement.
(3) This is stated in an interview with Warren Smith, www.radioliberty.com 4 p.m., 4-28-05, about his new book, The Light That Was Dark; from the New Age to Amazing Grace. He came out of New Age studies and found Christ by first learning how to cast out the demon that was oppressing his wife and him, and then reading the Bible in search of the real truth about Christ.