Purpose Driven or Scripture Driven? - Way of Life Literature
Purpose Driven or Scripture Driven? - Way of Life Literature Purpose Driven or Scripture Driven? - Way of Life Literature
Warren’s P.E.A.C.E. PlanSpeaking before 30,000 members and attendees ofSaddleback Church at the congregation’s 25th anniversarycelebration on April 17, 2005, Rick Warren announced hisplan for a global vision called P.E.A.C.E.He told the crowd, “I stand before you confidently rightnow and say to you that God is going to use you to changethe world.”Warren’s plan is described as nothing less than “a newreformation in Christianity and vision for a worldwidespiritual awakening in the 21st century.”Warren wants to enlist “one billion foot soldiers” toovercome the five “global giants” of “Spiritual Emptiness,Self-serving Leadership, Poverty, Disease and ignorance (orilliteracy).”The acronym PEACE gives the means of overcoming thesegiants:• Promote reconciliation• Equip servant leaders• Assist the poor• Care for the sick• Educate the next generation(Originally the first point was “Planting churches,” but itwas changed to the more vague and humanistic objective of“Promoting reconciliation.”)Warren’s program both expands and narrows the GreatCommission given by the Lord Jesus Christ after Hisresurrection and described in the following Scriptures:“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them inthe name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the HolyGhost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I54
have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway,even unto the end of the world. Amen” (Matthew28:19-20).“And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, andpreach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15).“And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus itbehoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead thethird day: And that repentance and remission of sinsshould be preached in his name among all nations,beginning at Jerusalem” (Luke 24:46-47).“But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost iscome upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me bothin Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and untothe uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:8).Warren’s P.E.A.C.E. plan expands on Christ’s Commissionwith a global social agenda that we see nowhere in the NewTestament. Christ’s Commission focuses on preaching theGospel to every soul and discipling those that believe, andthat is the program that we see carried out in the book ofActs. There is not a hint there or anywhere else in the NewTestament that the apostles and early churches pursued anysort of grandiose social-justice program. They did not set outto save the environment. They did not organize protestsagainst the social-political ills of the Roman Empire. Theydid not try to rid the Empire of poverty and sickness. Theypreached the gospel and lived holy lives and plantedchurches and discipled believers and loved their neighbors(but not in the way this is defined by Rick Warren).It is true that believers should have a godly influence inthis world. We are light and salt, but that does not add up tothe social-justice gospel as spelled out by Warren. We agreewith the following statement by Jonathan Leeland from thePastors’ and Theologians’ Forum on Church and Culture onthe 9Marks web site:55
- Page 4: Warren Tells Pastors to Get Rid of
- Page 8 and 9: faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ
- Page 10 and 11: which he or she is highly gifted an
- Page 12 and 13: “The Bible says, ‘Self-help is
- Page 14 and 15: On page 70, Warren quotes Hebrews 1
- Page 16: lyrics. It is the words that make a
- Page 21: appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ
- Page 25: Saddleback Church features nine dif
- Page 30 and 31: the book of Acts and the Epistles I
- Page 32 and 33: Paul’s gospel is clear. It says t
- Page 34: Warren’s Anti-fundamentalist Tira
- Page 38 and 39: atheism and calling it “one of th
- Page 40 and 41: smoke screen. It is a straw man. I
- Page 42 and 43: instructed to follow in the book of
- Page 44 and 45: orderline as possible” (Henderson
- Page 46 and 47: "ATMOSPHERES ARE GOING TO COMETHROU
- Page 48 and 49: to believe it myself; and that’s
- Page 50 and 51: wicked than same-sex relations? Whe
- Page 52 and 53: how sick and blasphemous this thing
- Page 56 and 57: “The church is not called to tran
- Page 58 and 59: Roger Oakland rightly observes:“W
- Page 60 and 61: absolutely nothing about kicking pe
- Page 62 and 63: It is a sad fact that Southerland h
- Page 64 and 65: “Now I beseech you, brethren, mar
- Page 66 and 67: Judaism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Bahai,
- Page 68 and 69: clamour for a confederacy which wou
- Page 70 and 71: American Baptist ChurchesThe Baptis
- Page 72 and 73: Dr. Frederick Anderson, secretary o
- Page 74 and 75: “Then the third day came. A stone
- Page 76 and 77: eferred to as God in the Scriptures
- Page 78 and 79: 100 “lesbian, bi-sexual, and tran
- Page 80 and 81: “Through visualization and dreami
- Page 82 and 83: Bono complains that the churches ha
- Page 84 and 85: salvation is by grace, for instance
- Page 86 and 87: Warren’s and the Ladies HomeJourn
- Page 88 and 89: Is that not what “unconditionally
- Page 90 and 91: Furthermore, if God doesn’t expec
- Page 92 and 93: article; but to a Muslim, that’s
- Page 94 and 95: Warren Doesn’t Mention JesusIn Ju
- Page 96 and 97: Warren Predict’s A “NewReformat
- Page 98 and 99: An Analysis of the “Purpose Drive
- Page 100 and 101: Saddleback model? From our understa
- Page 102 and 103: on Sunday to all the church body, a
Warren’s P.E.A.C.E. PlanSpeaking bef<strong>or</strong>e 30,000 members and attendees <strong>of</strong>Saddleback Church at the congregation’s 25th anniversarycelebration on April 17, 2005, Rick Warren announced hisplan f<strong>or</strong> a global vision called P.E.A.C.E.He told the crowd, “I stand bef<strong>or</strong>e you confidently rightnow and say to you that God is going to use you to changethe w<strong>or</strong>ld.”Warren’s plan is described as nothing less than “a newref<strong>or</strong>mation in Christianity and vision f<strong>or</strong> a w<strong>or</strong>ldwidespiritual awakening in the 21st century.”Warren wants to enlist “one billion foot soldiers” toovercome the five “global giants” <strong>of</strong> “Spiritual Emptiness,Self-serving Leadership, Poverty, Disease and ign<strong>or</strong>ance (<strong>or</strong>illiteracy).”The acronym PEACE gives the means <strong>of</strong> overcoming thesegiants:• Promote reconciliation• Equip servant leaders• Assist the po<strong>or</strong>• Care f<strong>or</strong> the sick• Educate the next generation(Originally the first point was “Planting churches,” but itwas changed to the m<strong>or</strong>e vague and humanistic objective <strong>of</strong>“Promoting reconciliation.”)Warren’s program both expands and narrows the GreatCommission given by the L<strong>or</strong>d Jesus Christ after Hisresurrection and described in the following <strong>Scripture</strong>s:“Go ye theref<strong>or</strong>e, and teach all nations, baptizing them inthe name <strong>of</strong> the Father, and <strong>of</strong> the Son, and <strong>of</strong> the HolyGhost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I54
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