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SUMMARY:
In his book, Rick Warren proposes that we have five purposes — and that those purposes are supposedly God ordained.These purposes are:

• You were planned for God’s pleasure
• You were formed for God’s family
• You were created to become like Christ
• You were shaped for serving God, and
• You were made for a mission

Conclusion
The Purpose-Driven Life is a book of motivational psychology, where the leading of the Holy Spirit is replaced by the plans of men, and the conviction of the Holy Spirit is replaced with hype-artistry and the pop-psychology of inspiration and motivation; a book where the Holy Spirit has been replaced with the spirit of the world. What are we saying to, and about, God when we accept teachings and concepts of the world and mould the Word of God to our own personal life experiences?

By BRETT BIGG
Continuing our series on a Doctrinal Critique of Rick Warren’s book The Purpose Driven Life. We will evaluate several chapters from the book itself.

Based on the purposes themselves, one could be lead to believe that the book is kosher — but is it? It’s not the “purposes” themselves that need to be examined, but how Rick Warren defines these purposes — and what he expects his readers to understand.This critique analyses Rick Warren’s doctrine (teachings) used in his purposes/ themes. In this way, the purposes themselves are also studied.

Business or Church

Before we start our evaluation of the doctrinal content of the book, it is worth noting the background, approach and the “reason” for Rick Warren’s worldlysuccess, and that being the advice and principles of Mr Peter Drucker.
Peter F. Drucker is a writer, teacher, and consultant specializing in strategy and policy for businesses and social sector organizations. He has consulted with many of the world’s largest corporations as well as with non-profit organizations, small and entrepreneurial companies, and with agencies of the U.S. government. He has also worked with free-world governments such as those of Canada, Japan, and Mexico. He is the author of thirty-one books which have been translated into more than twenty languages.Thirteen books deal with society, economics, and politics; fifteen deal with management. Two of his books are novels, one is autobiographical, and he is a co-author of a book on Japanese painting. He has made four series of educational films based on his management books. He has been an editorial columnist for the Wall Street Journal and a frequent contributor to the Harvard Business Review and other periodicals.
Drucker was born in 1909 in Vienna and was educated there and in England. He took his doctorate in public and international law while working as a newspaper reporter in Frankfurt, Germany. He then worked as an economist for an international bank in London. Drucker came to the United States in 1937. He began his teaching career as professor of politics and philosophy at Bennington College; for more than twenty years he was professor of management at the Graduate Business School of New York University. The recipient of many awards and honorary degrees, Peter Drucker has, since 1971, been Clarke Professor of Social Sciences at Claremont Graduate University. Its Graduate Management School was named after him in 1984.
Peter Drucker has been hailed in the United States and abroad as the seminal thinker, writer, and lecturer on the contemporary organization. In 1997, he was featured on the cover of Forbe’s magazine under the headline, “Still theYoungest Mind,” and Business Week has called him “the most enduring management thinker of our time.”
— http://www.pfdf.org/ leaderbooks/drucker/bio.html


	Let’s engage our imaginations, substitute the word “business” for “church” and see what Warren has to tell us.

Mr Drucker’s credentials and experience speak for themselves. When it comes to the business world his knowledge, experience and advice are synonymous with success.
But what about the church?
Should the church incorporate those principles that work in the world?
Are we to copy the world or separate ourselves from the world?

Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?
Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever?
Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols?
For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, “I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE. “Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE,” says the Lord. “AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN; And I will welcome you. “And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,” Says the Lord Almighty. — 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 (NAU)1
Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the fiesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever. Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us. — 1 John 2:15-19 (NAU)

My comments here are not intended to impugn Mr Drucker, his qualifications, experience or even those businesses which utilise his experience. The question is, “Should Rick Warren, Saddleback and the Church in general incorporate them”?

The Drucker-Warren relationship may surprise many readers, but it goes back two decades, to when the young minister came to Drucker for advice. Under Drucker’s tutelage, Warren’s own success as a spiritual entrepreneur has been considerable.

Saddleback has grown to 15,000 members and has helped start another 60 churches throughout the world. Warren’s 2001 book, The Purpose-Driven Life, is this decade’s best seller with 19.5 million copies sold so far and compiling at the rate of 500,000 per month.
Warren and I met at Drucker’s surprisingly spartan home in Claremont, California, on a cloudy Tuesday morning. We were greeted by Drucker’s wife, Doris, and ushered into the den for what developed into a two-hour conversation. During the first 30 minutes, Drucker — a religious man himself, albeit of a more muted Episcopalian type as compared to Warren’s exuberant brand of Southern Baptist — advised Warren on the challenges of ministry and church building.
This consultation is one Drucker and Warren have engaged in twice yearly for two decades…
— Peter Drucker on Leadership, Rich Karlgaard, 19 Nov 2004
http://www.forbes.com/home/ management/2004/11/19/cz_rk_ 1119drucker.html

What may surprise readers even more is Forbe’s magazines article entitled ‘Purpose Driven’.
…I give you the best book on entrepreneurship, business and investment that I’ve read in some time. It’s not new and it’s not a business book. It was written in 1995 and comes from the field of religion. It’s titled The Purpose-Driven Church and was penned by Rick Warren. Warren — in 1980 and from scratch — launched Saddleback Church in Orange County, Calif.

Under his leadership, the church has become the fastest-growing one in America. (Saddleback is a Southern Baptist evangelical church, by the way.) Weekends bring in an average of 15,000 worshippers. Saddleback has spawned dozens of so-called daughter churches throughout the country. Were it a business, Saddleback would be compared with Dell, Google or Starbucks.

The Purpose-Driven Church has sold more than 1 million copies. Its sequel,The Purpose-Driven Life, has sold 12 million copies. Whatever you think about Warren or his religious beliefs, he has discerned a consumer need out there.

S o let’s eng age our imaginations, substitute “church” and see what Warren has to tell us.

• Don’t try to make your business grow. Instead, work to make your business healthy. Because if it’s healthy, it will grow.
• Don’t be afraid to make it up as you go along. Warren quotes Mark Twain, who once said: “I knew a man who grabbed a cat by the tail and learned 40% more about cats than the man who didn’t.” A healthy business is one that tries many things that don’t work — and has the scratches and scars to prove it.
• Don’t trap yourself in costly infrastructure. To accommodate Saddleback’s continual growth, Warren used 79 different facilities for functions in the church’s first 15 years — schools, bank buildings, recreation centres, theatres, restaurants, large homes, even a 2,300-seat tent. Only in 1995, when the church had grown to 10,000 worshippers per weekend, did Warren erect Saddleback’s own building. “The shoe must never tell the foot how big it can grow,” he says.
• Don’t compete for market share. Instead, compete with nonconsumption.“ The church [business] must offer people something they cannot get anywhere else,” Warren says.
• Sell big! “I’ve discovered that challenging people to a serious commitment actually attracts people rather than repels them,” says Warren. “The greater commitment we ask for, the greater response we get.”
• Faith and dedication won’t overcome lack of skill and technology. Funny words from a preacher, but how true. “One of my favourite verses,” Warren says, “is Ecclesiastes 10:10: ‘If the axe is dull and its edge unsharpened, more strength is needed, but skill will bring success.’”
• Borrow from others’ successes. “Anytime I see a program working in another church [business], I try to extract the principle behind it and apply it in our church. I’m very grateful for the models that have helped me. I learned a long time ago that I don’t have to originate everything for it to work.”
• Never enter a new business without first picking someone to lead it. “If no leader emerged, we would wait on God’s timing before beginning a ministry,” says Warren.
• P urpose not only defines what your business should do, it defines what it shouldn’ t do. “The secret to effectiveness is to know what really counts.Then do what really counts.”

• Nothing should precede the purpose of your business. “Plans, programs and personalities don’t last,” says Warren. Only purpose lasts. It can heal your business, too. “Nothing will revive a discouraged church [business] faster than rediscovering its purpose.”

— Purpose Driven, Rich Karlgaard, 16 Feb 2004 http://www.forbes.com/ free_forbes/2004/0216/039. html&_requestid=5824


	You’ve got HOW many in the ark Noah? Did you say eight thousand? Eight hundred? Eight? Eight?! Good grief Noah.

With such a positive review by Forbes magazine every church should be jumping on the bandwagon! Shouldn’t they?
After all — if the world thinks it’s great, what greater endorsement and encouragement for the church. Posted to an Internet Forum Discussion was a piece of prose written by Mr Allan Jenks.
Allan told me that he wrote it relatively quickly to make a point; and in saying this he emphasised that it was to make a point and not be a doctrinal critique as such.

Nevertheless what he wrote illustrates the REAL approach Rick Warren has adopted. (Again I must reiterate that the reference to Mr Peter Drucker is not meant to impugn him, but to show the worldly advice Rick Warren has adopted.)

Imagine if Noah had had the mark eting guru Peter Druck er available to design a peopleimporting program for him like he did for Rick Warren!

Noah rings Drucker up. If you were in Drucker’s office you perhaps would hear something like this.
“You’ve got HOW many in the ark Noah?! Did you say eight thousand?!” “Eight hundred?” “Eight?! Eight?! Good grief Noah, that won’t do!
What on earth have you been SAYING to them!?”
“Repent?!” “No no, no, no, NO!
You tell them you have something for them whichTHEY think is important, doesn’t matter what it is, — NOT what YOU think is important for them!”
“They’re all wicked out there?”
“Doesn’t matter!
So who’s perfect?” “They’re THAT perverted eh?”
“Wow!
There’ll be some felt needs there all right!
”First of all tell them that God loves every single one of them with an unconditional love, and besides you yourself Noah must have read, ‘Judge not’.” “You’ve warned them it’s going to rain, did you say?” “They’re all going to be drowned?!”
“Look, noone’s impressed by such threats these days Noah, particularly when its something that’s never happened in living memory, and there’s no scienti?c data to back it up.”

“Today, people want an entirely SUBJECTIVE, ‘I’M OK, YOU’RE OK, ‘FEEL-GOOD faith.” “It’s a real turnoff these days to tell them they’re a bunch of rotten sinners and God is about to kill them! If you want back-sides on seats, you’ve got to tell them what’s in it for them.” “Heaven? -Eternal life?” “That’d be just a bit too far-off for most, Noah, they want something real satisfying and fulfilling, yeah, but they want it HERE, & NOW, not there, then.”

“Besides, it sounds like YOU’RE doing a lot of the talking Noah, sort of telling them how it’s gonna be, and then expecting some sort of change in them BEFORE you let them be a part of what you’re doing there. “By the way, I LOVE the great big auditorium you’ve built!” It’s DIFFERENT!”
“It’s so catchy, ‘THE ARK!’ What a GREAT ministry brand!”
“But how about you ask them all to go in there, have a meal together say, and get them into small groups, and let each group go through your material and decide amongst themselves what they think it means to them specifically. — how can it add to their self-fulfilment in life? — to get them successfully through their day, their marriages, their career, and so forth.” “Don’t insist that there is only the ONE way to interpret the material, Noah.” “Let each say what THEY think it means to THEM, they love that.” “You’ll need to allay those fears you’ve unfortunately stirred up with your end-time preaching Noah.”
“Stop telling them God is angry, and tell them all that God has a wonderful plan mapped out for their life - how special they all are to Him, how He just LOVES to watch them sleep, that sort of thing, — works a treat!”

“Look Noah, gotta rush, time is money.” “I’ll draw up a specially designed program for you.” “You could call it ‘40 days and 40 nights of Heavenly Refreshment’ or some-thing, and you look it over, and perhaps we can make a franchise deal.”
— “Gotta go now fella, a chap named Rick is on the other line, and wants a word too.” “Business is booming!” “see you soon!”

— Mr Allan Jenks Nelson, New Zealand Used with permission

The same piece of prose could easily be modified for situations encountered by Jonah, when preaching to the Ninevites, Miciaiah, when addressing King Ahab and King Jehoshaphat (2 Chr 18) and John the Baptist addressing the Pharisees, or how about Jesus addressing the money changers in the temple.

Or, what could be suggested to Peter and the other apostles in regard to preaching to Jerusalem: “Wait for Pentecost and the Baptism of the Holy Spirit” or “You’ve got the teaching, you’ve got the motivation, you’ve got the Great Commission — why wait? Enduement from on high? Aw, you’ve got the fire of zeal, you’re motivated. Go for it!” Would, or could, we imagine Peter considering such advice? So, should we be Purpose-Driven or Spirit- Led to serve God.

…The baptism with the Holy Spirit is an absolutely necessary preparation for effective service for Christ along every line of service. We may have a very clear call to service; it may be as clear as the apostles had — but the charge is laid upon us, as upon them, that before we begin that service we must “tarry until you be clothed with power from on high.” This enduement with power is through the baptism with the Holy Spirit. — P30, 31, The Baptism with the Holy Spirit; R. A. Torrey

What Rick Warren’s book is, in successful worldly motivation and encouragement, it lacks in biblical doctrine.
In The Purpose Driven Life’s introduction Rick Warren says,
The best way to explain God’s purpose for your life is to allow the Scripture to speak for itself… —p.11, The Purpose-Driven Life (paperback)

As such, I will reiterate, repeat and rewrite the emphasised portion of the above statement throughout this series of articles, to show the theological and doctrinal hypocrisy of Rick Warren and The Purpose Driven Life his book. Below is a quick look at the first two chapters of Rick Warren’s novel approach to God’s Word.

Chapter 1: It All Starts with God

You could reach all your per sonal goals, becoming a raving success by the world’s standard, and still miss the purpose for which God created you. You need more than self-help advice.
The Bible says, “Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self.”
— p.19, The Purpose-Driven Life (paperback)
[Emphasis by author -Ed]
Rick Warren’s quotation, in the above passage, comes from Matthew 16:25 (Msg)*2.
Let us read the verse in context, from the Updated New American Standard:

From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.” But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.” Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? — Matthew 16:21-26 (NAU)
The Lord Jesus’ directive to the disciples does not pertain to the “purpose for which God created” us.
This verse of Scripture does not pertain to this natural life, but the eternal?
This verse is not about “self-help” but “denying [him]self”?

Rick Warren correctly says, To discover your purpose in life you must turn to God’s Word, not the world’s wisdom.You must build your life on eternal truths, not pop psychology, success-motivation, or inspirational stories.
—p.20, The Purpose-Driven Life (paperback)


	Today, people want an entirely SUBJECTIVE, “I’m okay, you’re okay, FEEL-GOOD faith”.

This is a valid statement; however, Warren then turns around and does what he just warned about. On the following page Warren utilises the following illustration, i.e. an inspirational story, with no evidence that the novelist mentioned ever turned to the true God or the Gospel.

Andrei Bitov, a Russian novelist, grew up under an atheistic Communist regime. But God got his attention one dreary day. He recalls, “In my twenty-seventh year, while riding the metro in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) I was overcome with a despair so great that life seemed to stop at once, pre-empting the future entirely, let alone any meaning. Suddenly, all by itself, a phrase appeared: Without God life makes no sense. Repeating it in astonishment, I rode the phrase up like a moving staircase, got out of the metro and walked into God’s light.”
—p.21, The Purpose-Driven Life (paperback). Quoted from, David Friend, ed., The Meaning of Life, p194.

No disrespect is intended towards Andrei Bitov, but based on RickWarren’s quotation I believe it pertinent to at least include a little more biographical information about Mr Bitov.
Does Mr Bitov’s walking “into God’s light” (despite the obvious inferences) mean the “God of the Bible” or some other “god”?
Does it mean evangelical faith or Roman Catholicism?
To make use of this “inspirational” story should be a reason to qualify the outcome of Mr Bitov’s experience, rather than allude to a “saving” encounter with the God of the Bible — which is not explicitly confirmed.

Chapter 2 : You are Not an Accident

The opening verse of chapter 2, which is also the Point to Ponder is,

I am your Creator.You were in my care even before you were born — Isaiah 44:2a (CEV)3
Again, let us evaluate the context of this verse (allowing the Scripture to speak for itself).

“Your first forefather sinned, And your spokesmen have transgressed against Me. “So I will pollute the princes of the sanctuary, And I will consign Jacob to the ban and Israel to revilement. “But now listen, O Jacob, My servant,And Israel, whom I have chosen: Thus says the LORD who made you And formed you from the womb, who will help you, ‘Do not fear, O Jacob My servant; And you Jeshurun whom I have chosen. ‘For I will pour out water on the thirsty land And streams on the dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring And My blessing on your descendants; And they will spring up among the grass like poplars by streams of water.’ — Isaiah 43:27–44:4 (NAU)

The statement in Isaiah is directed specifically at Jacob (Israel); it deals explicitly in prophecy — of God’s judgement and His grace.
This verse deals specifically with the redemption thanks to the Messiah, that came through Israel, through the descendant of the man Abraham — whom God specifically chose — and who was God’s friend (James 2:23).

Warren goes on to expound: You are not an accident.
Your birth was no mistake or mishap, and your life is no fiuke of nature.
Your parents may not have planned you, but God did. He was not at all surprised by your birth. In fact, he expected it.

Long before you were conceived by your parents, you were conceived in the mind of God.
He thought of you first.
It is not fate, nor chance, nor luck, nor coincidence that you are breathing at this very moment. You are alive because God wanted to create you!
The Bible says, “The LORD will fulfil his purpose for me.” — p.22, The Purpose-Driven Life (paperback)

Here Rick Warren quotes Ps. 138:8a (NIV)4; but if we look at the complete verse, rather than Warren’s partial quotation we read (allowing the Scripture to speak for itself),
The LORD will fulfil His purpose for me; your love, O LORD, endures forever — do not abandon the works of your hands. — Psalm 138:8 (NIV) Emphasis mine.

The LORD will accomplish what concerns me; Your lovingkindness, O LORD, is everlasting; Do not forsake the works of Your hands. — Psalm 138:8 (NAU) (Emphasis Mine)

Psalm 138 is a psalm by David; and David’s, “The LORD will fulfil his purpose for me,” is not so much a statement as it is a request — as can be seen by David’s concluding phrase, “do not abandon the works of your hands.” To quote part of this verse without its conclusion is to intentionally misrepresent Scripture. Furthermore, it is interesting to note how The Message renders this verse, compared with Warren’s partial quotation from the New International Version (NIV),

Finish what you started in me, God.Your love is eternal - don’t quit on me now. — Psalm 138:8 (Msg)

We can see why the NIV was selected to “biblically justify” Warren’s point, as opposed to The Message, and why only a partial quoting of the NIV was given. Warren continues the chapter by saying,
Most amazing, God decided how you would be born.

Regardless of the circumstances of your birth or who your parents are, God had a plan in creating you. It doesn’t matter whether your parents were good, bad, or indifferent. God knew that those two individuals possessed exactly the right genetic makeup to create the custom “you” he had in mind. They had the DNA God wanted to make you.
— p.23. The Purpose-Driven Life (paperback).

As with most of what Rick Warren writes, it all sounds persuasive —and certainly has elements of truth and maybe even absolutely true points.
But just as the book is written as a self-contained resource, where the information is provided to its students (in the form Warren wants), rather than having them look up references and checking the context; it makes it all too easy to “guide” people’s thoughts and perceptions.

Personally, I believe that just like the “seed” in nature, be it vegetation (Gen 1:11), birds and fishes (Gen 1:21), cattle, beasts and creeping the things of the earth (Gen 1:25); God’s statement for man to, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth” (Gen 1:28) implies the same principle. The difference between man and the rest of creation though, is that man has a spirit — which God blew into him (i.e. Adam). So long as the “conditions are right” life will be “born”.


	Don’t tell them they’re a bunch of sinners ... they want something real satisfying and fulfilling, yeah, but they want it HERE & NOW, not there, then.

Or do we say that God “decided” and it was God’s “plan” for some people to be conceived through rape and incest? Are we going to say that, “they — including the rapist — had the DNA God wanted” to make that person?

God never does anything accidentally, and he never makes mistakes. He has a reason for everything he creates. Every plant and every animal was planned by God, and every person was designed with a purpose in mind. God’s motive for creating you was his love.The Bible says, “Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love.”
— p.23, 24. The Purpose-Driven Life (paperback)

Quoting Ephesians 1:4a (Msg) Again, let us examine the context of the verse Warren quotes, from a source other than The Message (allowing the Scripture to speak for itself),

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory.
— Ephesians 1:1-12 (NAU)

quoting from Ephesians because it says so much, but the twelve verses above show the real point NOW,

I wanted to continue on of WHO God had in mind, and WHAT exactly He had planned. Ephesians does NOT state, nor imply, an application for general creation, but for redemption — and NOT everyone is going to be redeemed. Sadly many will go to the lake of fire.

The chapter You Are Not An Accident implies the intentional and specific creation of You, Me and everyone else on this earth, by God.
Please note that I am not talking solely about your physical existence, but WHO YOU ARE; you as an individual, you as a person — the essence of who you are, the characteristics of you.
When you consider the households some people are born into, and the upbringing some people have, I have to question the absolute literal understanding of that statement.
Furthermore, has God created some children only to be aborted, or to die of cot death, or worse — to be intentionally killed?

Are we accidents to God?
No, since He knows the end from the beginning; but just as the seed has the potential to germinate into life, so does the “seed of man”.
God has ordained life, and set in motion laws for reproduction.
We produce after our “own kind”.
Did God createYOU for a specific purpose — for a specific task? What happens if you fail to complete this task — for which we are specifically created?
Or worse, what if we fail to realise what that task is; or intentionally not undertake it?

Please note that the Bible gives example of persons who God specifically brought into being: Isaac, Samson, Samuel, Jeremiah, and John the Baptist to name a few. God can, and has, intervened in history for the purpose of bringing specific people to birth. But these are exceptions to the rule, and more often than not — the result of specifically answering prayer. God sent Jesus as the final and perfect sacrifice to save mankind.
God’s plan, God’s purpose for mankind is to be saved.
God desires us to glorify Him, to worship, trust and honour Him — according to God’s pattern, God’s standard and God’s will.
God did not create us so that we could “find” a purpose for our lives.

Despite Rick Warren saying, “It’s not about you” (page 17, The Purpose Driven Life), the content of The Purpose Driven Life shows that Rick Warren believes it IS about you/ me.
And it is for this reason — following this philosophy — that his book has been successfully sold to the secular world.

Are some (born-again) persons called to do other things?
Yes. God does call people to the ministry?
Does he desire for us all to preach the Gospel?
Yes, since he would like to see all men saved.
Can God have a plan/purpose for each and every one of us — once we accept the Gospel and the Lordship of Jesus Christ on our lives?
Absolutely!
But let us not think that God has a purpose for the life of every person who has ever been born — especially when some people reject Christ and His sacrifice.

Conclusion

The Purpose-Driven Life is a book of motivational psychology, where the leading of the Holy Spirit is replaced by the plans of men, and the conviction of the Holy Spirit is replaced with hype-artistry and the pop-psychology of inspiration and motivation; a book where the Holy Spirit has been replaced with the spirit of the world.
What are we saying to, and about, God when we accept teachings and concepts of the world and mould the Word of God to our own personal life experiences?

• What worked two thousand years ago doesn’t work today?
• We have technology and concepts which Paul could not write about; therefore we will redefine and reapply God’s word to how WE think it should be?

Why don’t they just say what they really mean? “God got it wrong.”


	Call it “40 days and 40 nights of heavenly refreshment” ... you look it over, and perhaps we can make a franchise deal

So, despite Rick Warren saying, “It’s nights not about you” (page 17) it really is about “you” and what “you” think.
What “you” think the Word of God should say. What “you” think God should accept.
What “you” think is ok. It is because of this thinking that the Gospel of Rick Warren is not the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

In the next article we will be taking a specific look at how Rick Warren presents the Gospel in The Purpose- Driven Life, and what he says the Gospel is.

This is a major and critical issue with this book, since it is being sold to non-Christians as well as Christians, and being preached in corporations as well as churches.
Sadly, it is a fair comparison to say that Rick Warren has made Orange County as spiritually bankrupt as Orange County was, in a monetary sense, in 19945.

Applying Rick Warren’s advice will have the same effect as applying the monetary advice of someone going down the road leading to bankruptcy — but in a spiritual sense. But this isn’t just happening in Orange County, California or the United States. Rick Warren is selling his spiritual wares around the world; and the blind, the wretched and the naked are lining up to buy it, rather than the eye salve, gold and white robe that the Lord Jesus offers.

Laodicea truly is the spiritual name of many of today’s churches: Greek Laodikeia from laos (2992, pronounced lah-os) which means “the people” and from dike (1349 pronounced dee’kay) meaning “right (as self-evident), justice (the principle, a decision or its execution)”. Laodicea: “justice of the people” or alternately rendered, “the people judge”.
The affiuent lukewarm church of the west with its bookshelves full of Bibles doesn’t hold the Word of God in any esteem, reverance or regard. They believe it is something to be deliberated over, to determine what it means to “me” and how “I” feel about it.

The persecuted churches around the world hold onto the Word of God — and they treasure even just a page or two of the Bible, if they can get their hands on it.

And someone said to Him, “Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?” And He said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.“
Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open up to us!’ then He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know where you are from.’ “Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank inYour presence, and You taught in our streets’; and He will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you are from; DEPART FROM ME, ALLYOU EVILDOERS6 .’
“In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves being thrown out.
“And they will come from east and west and from north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God. “And behold, some are last who will be first and some are first who will be last.”
— Luke 13:23-30 (NAU)

Footnotes:
1 NAU - New American Standard Updated (1995), The Lockman Foundation
2 Msg – The Message, Eugene Peterson.
3 CEV – Contemporary English Version, American Bible Society.
4 NIV – New International Version, International Bible Society.
6 Greek adikia, meaning: injustice, unrighteousness

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Appeared in Issue CETF NR 33 2005
"...contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints" -- Jude v3

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