Nov 24, 2008

Warren's "next big thing" just announced:

He is partnering with Reader's Digest to launch quarterly digest and DVD for the "Purpose Driven Connection."

"We are excited about this new partnership and its unprecedented potential for exponential impact, especially in the 68 countries where local churches have launched the PEACE plan," said Warren, who will be heavily involved in each element. "We stopped several successful projects a couple of years ago to start preparing for this. The concept of the Purpose Driven Connection is so huge, it took three years to get to this point of announcement. We're thrilled to finally get to talk about it prior to the launch early next year. It is unlike anything else and has the potential to change hundreds of millions of lives."

"It is rare indeed to be able to call something 'revolutionary' in our highly-developed world," said Mark Affleck, executive director of Purpose Driven Connection. "This is just that - an entirely new and never-before-seen model for how people can not only discover their purpose in life, but to also interact with others through the online community, small group network and the global PEACE initiative."

[Here's how Warren's PR firm describes him, using the praise of men:]
"Warren is a pastor, author, global strategist and innovator, being called "America's Most Powerful Religious Leader" and listed among the "100 Most Influential People in the World" (TIME); "15 People Who Make America Great" (Newsweek); "One of America's 25 Best Leaders" (U.S. News and World Report); and "America's Pastor" ("USA Today"). Warren founded Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., with one family in 1980, and today it is one of America's most influential congregations with over 100,000 names on the church roll, a 120-acre campus, and more than 300 community ministries.Warren is a pastor, author, global strategist and innovator, being called "America's Most Powerful Religious Leader" and listed among the "100 Most Influential People in the World" (TIME); "15 People Who Make America Great" (Newsweek); "One of America's 25 Best Leaders" (U.S. News and World Report); and "America's Pastor" ("USA Today"). Warren founded Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., with one family in 1980, and today it is one of America's most influential congregations with over 100,000 names on the church roll, a 120-acre campus, and more than 300 community ministries."

Hey, with credentials like that, how can this not be of God?

Note: It helps to have one of the nation's top PR firms behind all these media efforts -- Larry Ross, the same publicity firm that launched Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" and ensured its success among evangelicals.

But let's consider the words of our Lord:

"If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before [it hated] you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also" (John 15:19-20).

If the very magazines whose editorial ownership is liberal, pro-Obama, and globalist are trumpeting Rick Warren's "plan," supported by one of the world's largest publishers who ("markets books, magazines, music, video and educational products reaching 100 million households in 79 countries [and] publishes 92 magazines, including 50 editions of Reader's Digest, the world's largest-circulation magazine; operates 65 branded Web sites generating 18 million unique visitors per month; and sells approximately 68 million books, music and video products across the world each year") then it begs the question, "who is Rick Warren's 'lord'?"

Considering the fact that faithful, humble and meek Christians are now regularly getting threatened, attacked, and spit upon in the streets (not in foreign countries, but in America's cities!) by violent mobs of homosexual "rights" activists --- while secular praise is heaped upon "America's Pastor" for his "P.E.A.C.E." plan and AIDS charity?

Something's not right with this picture...

Extra Credit:

"And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man" (Luke 17:26).

How does Scripture describe "those days?"

Read the word of the Lord before judgment then (the Flood):

"And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Genesis 6:6).

Finish this up by reading 2 Peter chapter 3, which is a further prophetic promise (a warning for our time!) with encouragement to believers... especially look for these words of exhortation (if you're reading KJV):

"But..."; "Seeing then..."; "Looking for..."; "Nevertheless..."; "Wherefore..."; "Ye therefore..."

I am increasingly and repeatedly convicted, "it's time to be serious" about serving our Lord. To borrow a line from an old hymn, "the things of earth will grow strangely dim...in the light of his glory and grace."

(Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus)...