Purpose Driven or Scripture Driven? - Way of Life Literature

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faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:21). Warrensays that he believes in the Great Commission and hementions it in passing in The Purpose Driven Life, but heignores repentance, which is a part of the Great Commission.Christ gave the Great Commission in Luke 24:44-48 and Hecommanded that “repentance and remission of sins should bepreached in his name among all nations.” Paul boldlypreached repentance to the philosophers and idolaters inAthens, and if he were alive today, he would certainly preachrepentance to the idolaters in America! Paul said that God“now commandeth all men every where to repent” (Acts17:30), and we can be sure that God hasn’t changed Hismind.Self-Esteem TheologyThough Warren professes that his teaching does not exaltman but rather exalts God and he claims that he does notteach a self-help program, in reality he teaches nothing lessthan a Robert Schuller-style Self-Esteem theology.Notice the following statements:“The moment you were born into the world, God wasthere as an unseen witness, smiling at your birth. ... Itproves your worth. If you are that important to God, andhe considers you valuable enough to keep you foreternity, what great significance could you have? ...Anything you do that brings pleasure to God is an act ofworship ... You may be gifted at mechanics ormathematics or music or a thousand other skills. Allthese abilities can bring a smile to God’s face. ... Youonly bring him enjoyment by being you. Anytime youreject any part of yourself, you are rejecting God’swisdom and sovereignty in creating you. ... God alsogains pleasure in watching you enjoy his creation. ...When you are sleeping, God gazes at you with love,because you were his idea. He loves you as if you werethe only person on earth” (pp. 61, 64, 74, 75).8
Here worship is turned on its head by making it as muchabout me as about God. I am so loveable and so importantand so desirable to God that whatever I do brings Godpleasure and therefore is worship. Wonderful me! The selfesteemtheology is more about celebrating self than dying toself, even when it talks of dying to self! Warren says that if Ireject any part of myself I am denying God’s sovereignty.What about sin and what it has done to “myself”?Consider another statement from Warren’s popular book:“If you want to know how much you matter to God, lookat Christ with his arms outstretched on the cross, saying,‘I love you this much! I’d rather die than live withoutyou’” (p. 79).Thus, the cross is sanctified by the self-esteem theology sothat it is about me and how the Lord couldn’t live withoutme. Wonderful me!Consider another statement:“God is a lover and a liberator, and surrendering to himbrings freedom, not bondage. When we completelysurrender ourselves to Jesus, we discover that he is ... nota boss, but a brother...” (p. 79).The self-esteem God is dedicated to liberating me. He isnot a boss! He’s just a Big Buddy, a Powerful Pal.Warren quotes from Olympic runner Eric Liddell: “To giveup running would be to hold him in contempt.”Thus, to deny what I am gifted at and what I like to do is todeny God. Isn’t it clever how that Warren has identified selfwillwith God’s will so that they have become one and thesame?In fact, things I am gifted for and enjoy oftentimes comeinto conflict with God’s perfect will. God oftentimes callsupon an individual to give up even legitimate things for9
Page 4: Warren Tells Pastors to Get Rid of
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 54 and 55: Warren’s P.E.A.C.E. PlanSpeaking
Page 56 and 57: “The church is not called to tran
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Roger Oakland rightly observes:“W
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absolutely nothing about kicking pe
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It is a sad fact that Southerland h
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“Now I beseech you, brethren, mar
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Judaism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Bahai,
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clamour for a confederacy which wou
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American Baptist ChurchesThe Baptis
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Dr. Frederick Anderson, secretary o
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“Then the third day came. A stone
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eferred to as God in the Scriptures
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100 “lesbian, bi-sexual, and tran
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“Through visualization and dreami
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Bono complains that the churches ha
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salvation is by grace, for instance
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Warren’s and the Ladies HomeJourn
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Is that not what “unconditionally
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Furthermore, if God doesn’t expec
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article; but to a Muslim, that’s
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Warren Doesn’t Mention JesusIn Ju
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Warren Predict’s A “NewReformat
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An Analysis of the “Purpose Drive
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Saddleback model? From our understa
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on Sunday to all the church body, a
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church growth. While the contempora
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program) then the resultant growth
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away from the larger issue at hand-
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unreconcilable dichotomy between fl
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giants,” accepted his methods. Fu
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children of Israel could have said
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that the local New Testament church
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etrays its weakened hold on the obj
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e turned unto fables. But watch tho
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Paul had no target group! All neede
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Judge Not?The following is from our
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ingeth forth good fruit; but a corr
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must welcome and neither judge nor
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the law, but a judge. There is one
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About Way of Life’s eBooksSince J
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ecumenical; it is charismatic; it i
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Transformational Power of CCM. V. S
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variety of situations, including ho
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“The encyclopedia is excellent. T
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Purpose Driven or Scripture Driven? - Way of Life Literature

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