“If you love truth, you may want to say no! For in his book Soul Tsunami, Dr. Sweet, a popular leader of the Emerging Church, tells us to flow with the currents of change and leave God’s unchanging gospel behind. “Postmodern culture is a change-or-be changed world,” he continues. “Reinvent yourself for the 21st century or die. Some would rather die than change.”  Excerpt from below.”  That is is an Evolutionary statement.  Evolution is a key for the coming deception.  Jesus said, “Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?”  I submit they are changing the message.  Does the gospel change? Methods, sure, but NOT THE GOSPEL!  Really we here at Amos37 and many others smell a rat.  See our series on Kingdom Now Exposed on the Kingdom Parables of Jesus.

 

Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears… 2 Timothy 4:2-3

Rick Warren The UN & The Global Church

By Berit Kjos

The next few articles are done by Berit Kjos are thoroughly documented.  As the people of God, we look at the quote above and what is below and we see a very troubling trend from Americas so called pastor.  Truly it is not our place to change the gospel for their is no other Galatians 1:6, 2 Corinthians 11:4.  Movements like this and a plethora of other compromised gospel messages have set the table for the great falling away (Apostasy) 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5 of the Church.  It is men who think they know better than the Creator who seeks to modify the gospel to this day and age to make it palatable.  No Rick and the host of others that are compromised we are to preach in season and out of season 2 Timothy 4:2.  People are thirsty for the truth and the gospel is diluted and emptied of its power to transform lives 1 Corinthians 1:17

Warren’s P.E.A.C.E. Plan & UN Goals – Part 1

The Emerging Global ‘Church’

 

“The first Reformation was about belief; this one’s going to be about behavior… The first one was about creeds; this one’s going to be about our deeds.”[1] Rick Warren

 

“The transition… to a culture of peace is a process of individual, collective and institutional transformation.”[2] UNESCO Culture of Peace Programme

“Citizenship for the next century is learning to live together. The 21st Century city will be a city of social solidarity… We have to redefine the words… [and write a new] social contract.” [3] Federico Mayor, former head of UNESCO.

 

A Whole New World

“A sea change of transitions and transformations is birthing a whole new world,” wrote Dr. Leonard Sweet, whose books are often quoted in Rick Warren’s Ministry Toolbox. “God is birthing the greatest spiritual awakening in the history of the church… Are you going to show up.”[4]

 

Leonard SweetIf you love truth, you may want to say no! For in his book Soul Tsunami, Dr. Sweet, a popular leader of the Emerging Church, tells us to flow with the currents of change and leave God’s unchanging gospel behind. “Postmodern culture is a change-or-be changed world,” he continues. “Reinvent yourself for the 21st century or die. Some would rather die than change.”[4]

 

Would Rick Warren agree? Probably, since he wrote this glowing endorsement for the front cover of Sweet’s book: “Soul Tsunami shows us why these are the greatest days for evangelism since the first century!”

 

What kind of evangelism does Warren envision? Would it be based on God’s Word or on “good” works?  Apparently, the latter. In a world that has traded Biblical absolutes for changing values and feel-good experiences, God’s “divisive” truths face a rising tide of hostility. But few will argue against helping the poor and sick. Perhaps that’s why Pastor Warren keeps repeating this statement: “The first Reformation was about belief; this one’s going to be about behavior.”[5]

 

Leonard Sweet New Age Spirituality Quantum SpiritualityThe new focus is on unity — a worldwide oneness reflected in the growing union between the East and West. Leonard Sweet’s online book, Quantum Spirituality, sheds some revealing light of the envisioned global “church” for the 21st century. In his view, the offense of the cross has been replaced with a passion for interfaith peace and possibility thinking. To illustrate this point, Dr. Sweet quotes Thomas Merton, the popular Catholic author who popularized mysticism and died in Asia searching the depths of Tibetan Buddhism: ‘We are already one. But we imagine that we are not. And what we have to recover is our original unity.'”[6]

 

Seeking that illusive solidarity, today’s success-driven church leaders are rushing into the postmodern age of flexible “truth” and relational pleasures. Unbounded by any solid anchor in God’s unchanging Word, they dash forward — hand in hand with the world — toward an imagined future attainable through practices long hidden in secret societies and Eastern religions. These include meditative rituals, dialectical synthesis, and systems thinking. Add service learning to the last two and you have the transformational strategies first tested by Communist tyrants, then incorporated into the UN – U.S.    education system, which intentionally undermined factual, rational learning and established the postmodern ways of thinking.[7]

 

We need to understand this amazing worldwide revolution — and the subtle compromises caused by today’s pragmatic “Christian” alliances. Therefore, the next two articles in this series will look more closely at the social manipulation behind “community service” and “lifelong learning” — two programs driven by global standards, continual assessments and remediation. Meanwhile, you can find helpful background information on the following pages:

Molding Human Resources for the Global Workforce

Bush, Shultz, Gorbachev and Soviet Education

Spirit-Led or Purpose-Driven, Part 4: Dealing with Resisters

Character Training For Global Citizenship

But first, let’s examine Rick Warren’s celebrated P.E.A.C.E. Plan and its links to the United Nations.

 

Like most other UN documents, its Millennium Goals sound kind and compassionate. They are designed to appeal to noble instincts and caring hearts — and they do! That’s why nations, corporations, organizations, and churches have joined the global campaign. Who would disagree with these eight lofty goals?

1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.

2. Achieve universal primary education.

3. Promote gender equality and empower women.
4. Reduce child mortality.
5. Improve maternal health.
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.
7. Ensure environmental sustainability.

8. Develop a global partnership for development.[8]

rick-warren-tony-blair-fist-bump-2Of course, there’s more to this list than nice-sounding words. The motivational vision of a worldwide welfare system may have captured hearts around the world, but it actually serves the grandiose aims of socialist change agents who have little concern for human suffering. (Just look how government leaders are treating the victims of hurricane Katrina!) Yet, no other program has more effectively linked the evangelical church to the UN management system, which, from its birth, declared war on Biblical truth and values.[9] And no other program has more effectively drawn Christians into a process designed to manipulate the masses, undermine traditional values, silence resisters, synthesize beliefs, trade individual thinking for collective thinking, and train global citizens to serve the “greater whole .”[10]

 

An interview titled, “Pastor [Warren] lays out a global vision,” summarizes parts of that plan:

Q: Your book is a mega-seller and there are 82,000 names on Saddleback’s church rolls. What’s next?

Warren: “In the 21st century we are going global and mobilizing the American church to help internationally. … President Kagame will welcome us to Rwanda for a joint project between the government, business, and the church…

Q: How will Saddleback tackle these huge problems?

Warren: With our PEACE plan… P is for plant a church or partner with an existing one in every village. We’ll work with everyone who wants to help. I’ll work with an atheist who wants to stop AIDS. E – equip local leaders. A – assist the poor. C – care for the sick. And E – educate the next generation. …

Q: What is your greatest hope for all this?

Warren: A second Reformation. The first one was about belief. This one will be about deeds.”[11]

Compare this celebrated P.E.A.C.E. Plan with the United Nation’s Millennial Goals. Keep in mind that both purpose-driven churches and their strategic leadership programs require training in mind-changing processes and assessment technologies that support the UN vision for human resource development around the world.[12]

Warren’s PEACE Plan Millennium Development Goals:
1. Was: Plant churches Changed to: Promote Reconciliation #8. Develop a global partnership for development. (The leadership training for purpose-driven churches parallels the dialectic  process , Systems Thinking  and team development prescribed by various UN agencies involved in human resource development.)
2. Equip servant leaders #8. Develop a global partnership for development. Actually “Lifelong Learning” has been the major UNESCO education goal  since the UN agency was founded.
3. Assist the poor #1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
4. Care for the sick #4. Reduce child mortality
#5. Improve maternal health
#6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
5. Educate the next generation #2. Achieve universal primary education
The implied aims of UN Millennium Goals #3 and #7 are certain to be included in each of Warren’s five programs – especially in P, E, A and E. #3. Promote gender equality and empower women
#7. Ensure environmental sustainability

Now, let’s look more closely at each P.E.A.C.E. Plan objective:

1. Plant churches.  The first point sounds good. But what will those church plants look like? Will they be clones of Saddleback Church in California — or of thousands of other churches that follow the purpose-driven model?

 

Not exactly. Today’s change agents will carefully adapt their transformational strategies to each new cultural setting. But at the heart of this global revolution we see the same key elements: Total Quality Management , psycho-social leadership training, promotion of a positive (compromised) gospel and a permissive (feel-good, non-judging) God, continual high-tech assessments and remediation, and the dialectic process  operating through facilitated small groups .

 

The mission field is the entire world.  As Pastor Warren says,

Rick Warren Black Sheep“‘Billions of people suffer each day from problems so big no government can solve them…. ‘The only thing big enough to solve the problems of spiritual emptiness, selfish leadership, poverty, disease, and ignorance is the network of millions of churches all around the world….

‘The Scripture shows us that Jesus shared the Good News, trained leaders, helped the poor, cared for the sick, and taught the children… ‘Our P.E.A.C.E. Plan will just do the five things Jesus did while he was here on earth.'”[13]

But Pastor Warren’s comparison with Jesus couldn’t be more misleading. Jesus never used the psycho-social strategies or the manipulative management systems that drive today’s social and spiritual transformation!

 

Warren’s initial thrust is into Africa, where the P.E.A.C.E. Plan will fit well. It already has a foothold in Rwanda, where the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi minority shocked the world. But according to Time Magazine, its president Paul Kagame had not been friendly to Biblical Christianity:

“Kagame has repeatedly stated his disdain for religious organizations. Thus a buzz went up in Kigali’s Amahoro Stadium last month when Kagame allowed Rick Warren… to throw an arm over his shoulders and ‘pray for the President.’… Kagame has committed his government to cooperation in a five-to-seven-year self-sufficiency project staffed by Rwandan volunteers but initiated, advised and at least partly funded by Warren’s network of ‘purpose-driven churches.’ Warren talks of turning Rwanda into ‘the first purpose-driven nation.'”[14]

Do you wonder why a somewhat anti-Christian African president would enter into such an agreement? Kagame answered that question when he spoke at Saddleback Church in April:

“…they also told us about the vision of the PEACE plan… It is a vision with a big goal, which is to confront the world’s major problems; but it is practical and simple in strategy because it is built on using average people rather than just the elite. Rick and I agree that each partner – the church, the government, and businesses have a role to play and we are better together and more effective when we cooperate.”[15]

“More effective” in what way? In planting Biblical churches — or in “Capacity Building” and “developing” people who think collectively and fit the UN vision?  Will cooperation with “government and businesses” actually help establish Christ-centered churches with faithful “born again” Christians who — by God’s grace — love and follow His Word? Or will it spread compromise and deception? Will it please God or man?

 

Will it fulfill what Warren presents as God’s five main purposes for the Church? Or might those purposes all be redefined under the banner of church growth, church health, and success-driven service through church/world alliances?[16] Partnerships face problems when one partner controls the money or political power. The controlling member will be in a position to set the rules and define the terms, forcing the other member(s) to submit or leave.

 

Actually, Rick Warren’s five purposes have already been compromised. “Warren presents some basic teaching regarding Gods purpose to glorify Himself and what man should do in relation to God,” wrote Richard Bennett in an article titled “The Purpose Driven Life: Demeaning the Very Nature of God.” “The fact that none of these purposes is presented in a biblically accurate way makes Warren’s work all the more dangerous to the true understanding of Who God is and His Gospel in Christ.”[17]

 

Consider Warren’s five main purposes from a Biblical perspective:

Worship: Postmodern worship forms are designed to stir happy feelings and human excitement, not worship inspired by the Holy Spirit. They point to a positive and permissive God who — like our human team members — will cheer our self-centered nature and excuse our unholy ways. Such celebrations clash with genuine expressions of a Spirit-filled heart that freely praises our wonderful holy God without emotion-raising, man-centered programs. (See Spirit-Led or Purpose-Driven)

Fellowship: Purpose-driven “fellowship” tends to follow today’s dialectical guidelines. These push group members toward unbiblical tolerance, feeling-based rather than fact-based “sharing,” and silence with regard to Biblical absolutes. In contrast, Biblical fellowship happens when we come together with common delight in His Word, His will, and His ways — loving and encouraging each other with His Word and by His Spirit.

Discipleship: The new church management systems call for training in submission and loyalty to “the group” and the new social ethics — not to God and His Word. It requires participation in collective thinking and “service learning ” and fun team building activities. It shuns God’s narrow ways and divisive truths and twists God’s call for Biblical oneness into an invitation to join the world on its highway to corruption.

 

Ministry: The shape and structure of purpose-driven ministries are increasingly defined by new management gurus, personality assessments, community surveys, and group appeal, not by Biblical teaching nor God’s actual purposes. But the Bible shows us that our main focus should be on building up believers by preaching and teaching His Word, and by exhorting and serving one another. We are called to live and work together by His Spirit — not by group thinking and politically correct tolerance. In the true Church, all the members know and follow Jesus Christ, the King of all! He is not a reinvented god acceptable to the world, but the holy, almighty God who revealed Himself through the Scriptures.

Evangelism: Today’s soft, non-offensive gospel focuses on God’s supposed passionate love for people who are naturally lovable, not on His loving mercy for depraved sinners. (See Ephesians 2:1-4)  When “Christian” change agents train the masses to “think outside the box” of God’s unchanging Word, they are spreading a false gospel and blinding people to the only truth that can set us free.

The assumption that “the ends justify the means” has already blinded a critical mass of “Christian” leaders. Many don’t realize that the promised “end” is merely an illusion. Trained to accept a compromised gospel, they spread it to a world that wants to share in God’s blessings without conviction of sin or genuine repentance. The non-Christian masses are more than willing to join, for A gospel purged of its offensive parts the world.  the movement without Biblical conversion.

This radical reformation becomes all the more concerning when church leaders like Rick Warren link hands with Bono, Ellen DeGeneres, and other UN supporters in their evangelistic crusade and war on poverty. Since these noble aims fit right into the United Nations’ efforts to “develop” nations, train human resources, build social capital, and establish its global management system, we cannot ignore its basic philosophy.

What’s more, today’s soft, social “gospel” conforms easily to UNESCO’s guidelines for religion in the new world order. Remember Pastor Warren’s words, “The first [Reformation] was about beliefs. This one will be about deeds.”[11]

It all makes sense. The true gospel offends people. It reminds us that we are fallen creatures in bondage to sin apart from God. That’s why God’s Word warns us that “we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life.” (2 Corinthians 2:14)  It reminds us not to expect popularity in the world when we are true to His Word! Instead, we are called to follow His narrow, difficult road, no matter what the cost:

“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you… If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you… because they do not know Him who sent Me.” John 15:18-21

In contrast, humanitarian deeds will win the world’s applause. So will a whitewashed gospel, cleansed of offensive truth, and focused on man’s worth rather than God’s righteousness. This new gospel fits the vision of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) as summarized in its Declaration on the Role of Religion in the Promotion of a Culture of Peace. Notice that it uses the evils committed by false or “cultural Christianity” to justify its criticisms of genuine Christianity and to press all religions into accepting its guidelines for global service in its new world order:

1. …We are all interdependent and share an inescapable responsibility for the well-being of the entire world.

2. We face a crisis which could bring about the suicide of the human species or bring us a new awakening and a new hope. We know that religion… has an indispensable role to play….

6. Religions have… led to division, hatred, and war. Religious people have too often betrayed the high ideals they themselves have preached.

8. Peace entails that we understand that we are all interdependent…. collectively responsible for the common good.

11. We must… cultivate a spirituality which manifests itself in action…

13. We commit ourselves to … assure a truly humane education for all. We emphasize education for peace, freedom, and human rights, and religious education to promote openness and tolerance.

19. Our communities of faith have a responsibility to encourage conduct imbued with wisdom, compassion, sharing, charity, solidarity, and love; inspiring one and all to choose the path of freedom and responsibility. Religions must be a source of helpful energy.

20. … We should distinguish fanaticism from religious zeal.

21. We will favor peace by countering the tendencies of individuals and communities to assume or even to teach that they are inherently superior to others …

22. We will promote dialogue and harmony between and within religions … respecting the search for truth and wisdom that is outside….

23. …We call upon the different religious and cultural traditions to join hands… and to cooperate with us.”[18]

Whether consciously or simply out of success-oriented pragmatism, the purpose-driven church movement has answered the call. With management guru Peter Drucker as his mentor, Rick Warren’s quest for reformation and transformation serves the UN vision very well. In fact, the two seem to march to the same drumbeat. Like Warren’s vision of transformation, UNESCO Culture of Peace Programme calls for total transformation to its global system of assessments and control –“a process of individual, collective and institutional transformation.”[2]

Those who have studied UN literature realize that its envisioned “Culture of Peace” would happily embrace a compromised form of Christianity that would serve the world system. But Biblical Christianity, so despised by the world, would be banned — just as Jesus warned His disciples:

“…they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved.”  (Matthew 24:9-13)  See Signs of the times

A small group of faithful missionaries, working quietly among the African poor, might by God’s grace, be able to share the whole gospel beyond the watchful eyes of the new global managers. But the publicity-hungry PD movement with its popular agenda will be carefully scrutinized for compliance with the UN ideals. To succeed within this global framework of control, it must conform, comply and ultimately serve the global agenda. And its fury may well be focused on those uncompromising missionaries and faithful Christians who would rather suffer persecution at the hands of intolerant “peace-makers” than betray their beloved Lord.

Two Scriptures would be worth remembering in the challenging times ahead:

“…the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me.” John 16:2-3

“But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.“ Acts 20:24

 

Endnotes:  Many of these original links have been broken or moved.  Wonder why…

1. Rick Warren hits home run with announcement of global peace plan. Find a similar statement at “Rick Warren: Global Baptists — ‘We’re all in this together,’ at www.bwanet.org/Congress/congresstoday29f.htm. “The first Reformation was about beliefs. This one needs to be about behavior.… We’ve had a Reformation; what we need now is a transformation.” [1] Rick Warren

2. UNESCO Culture of Peace Programme  at http://www.peace.ca/vowunesco.htm

3. Federico Mayor, speaking at a conference on “solidarity” during the 1996 UN Conference on Human Settlements in Istanbul, Turkey. Taped and transcribed by Berit Kjos.

4. Leonard Sweet, Soul Tsunami, Page (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1999), pages 17, 34, 75.

5. Ken Camp, “Second Reformation’ will unify church, Warren tells Dallas GDOP,” Pastors.com, 2005, at www.pastors.com/article.asp?ArtID=8280

6. Leonard Sweet, Quantum Spirituality, book review available online at Quantum Spirituality: A Postmodern Apologetic

7. See “The International Agenda at http://www.crossroad.to/Books/BraveNewSchools/2-International.htm#1-wcefa  and Small Groups and the Dialectic Process  at http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/04/3-purpose.htm .

8. “Millennium Goal: Conforming the world to Socialist Solidarity”  at www.crossroad.to\articles2\TwoSummits.htm

9. www.crossroad.to\Quotes\globalism\chisholm.htm  and “UNESCO: Its purpose and Its Philosophy ” at www.crossroad.to\Quotes\globalism\julian-huxley.htm

10. “Serving the ‘greater whole‘” at www.crossroad.to\Books\BraveNewSchools\6-Service.html  and “Social Change and Communitarian Systems” at www.crossroad.to/articles2/04/6-purpose-communitarian.htm  and “Molding Human Resources for the Global Workforce  at www.crossroad.to/text/articles/HumanResources.html

11. “Pastor [Warren] lays out a global vision ,” [registration required]:

12. “Reinventing the World ” at www.crossroad.to/articles2/Reinvent1.htm  and Re-Inventing the Church  at www.crossroad.to/articles2/2002/change-agent-1.htm

13.  “P.E.A.C.E. Plan: A Worldwide Revolution, Warren Tells Angel Stadium Crowd  at http://www.purposedrivenlife.com/absolutenm3/templates/articles.aspx?articleid=981&zoneid=25

14. David Van Biema, “Warren of Rwanda,” Time magazine, August 22, 2005 at http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,1093746,00.html

15.”Remarks by his Excellency Paul Kagame, President of the Republic of Rwanda, at Saddlback Church  (17 April, 2005) at http://www.gov.rw/government/president/speeches/2005/17_04_05_saddleback.htm

16 Topical Index of Scriptures  at www.crossroad.to\HisWord\verses\topics\alliances.htm

17. Richard Bennet, “The Purpose Driven Life: Demeaning the Very Nature of God ,” at http://www.bereanbeacon.org/articles/rick_warren_purpose_driven_2.htm

18. Declaration on the Role of Religion in the Promotion of a Culture of Peace

19. “Dealing with Resisters” at www.crossroad.to/articles2/04/4-purpose-resisters.htm

 

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