July 12, 2006
TO: Pastor Lee McFarland
Senior Pastor
Radiant Church
15522 W. Paradise Ln.
Surprise, AZ 85374
www.radiantchurch.com
& www.mychurchrocks.com
email: pastor.lee@RadiantChurch.com
RESPONSE TO ASSEMBLY OF GOD PASTORS
LEE
MCFARLAND
&
ANTHONY NIGER, II
REGARDING CHARGES OF LIBEL AND SLANDER
Dear Pastor Lee
McFarland and all Assembly of God pastors,
I just received
a copy of your June 30, 2006 response to Philip Powell's letter that Philip
just sent to Assembly of God pastors and a host of other ministries around the
world regarding Rick Warren's teachings and other nefarious practices going on
within the AOG. (Philip Powell is the
Christian Ministries Fellowship Director and former General Superintendent for
the Australian Assemblies of God.)
Philip Powell has already responded to AOG Pastor Lee McFarland's as
well as AOG Pastor Anthony Niger II's letters accusing Philip of libel and
slander against Rick Warren. What
follows is my response to these very serious charges, as well as a response to
Pastor McFarland's original letter to
me, and my response to both you and Pastor Niger's charges against Philip
Powell and me and Dr. Opal Reddin.
Before I begin, it is most relevant that I remind you all of the
following Scriptures:
“These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an
abomination unto him:
A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in
running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth
discord among brethren.” Proverbs
6:16-19
“Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the
wicked to be an unrighteous witness.”
Exodus 23:1
“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters,
proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those
that are good,” 2 Timothy 3:1-3
Your original
letter was not even addressed to me personally; I was just one of many people
you sent your open letter to. So it was
not clear that you were expecting a response from me. But since I have now learned that you did want a direct response,
I am happy to respond.
Before I
address your accusations, I would like to begin by telling all of you that I
and a number of other ministries with whom I correspond are constantly
receiving SOS emails from all over the world from victims of purpose-driven
philosophies. One SOS phone call particularly
stands out in my mind. I received the
call from a grown daughter of the wife of a deacon who had been a member of his
church for 57 years and the wife had been married to him for 44 years. Her
husband and two other long-standing deacons were ousted for opposing Rick
Warrens teachings and programs being imported into their church. In this phone call, the daughter described
to me that her mother was rolled up in the fetal position on her kitchen floor
crying out in agony for how her beloved husband's reputation had been destroyed
both in her church and community ever since he had come out against
purpose-driven philosophy. These man,
an elder in the faith, is a perfect portrayal of the type of Christian whom
Rick Warren would identify as a “pillar” and “resister” and more recently as one
who “have to die” in the process of transforming to become a purpose-driven
church. I have been able to verify the
story about this church by the testimony of two or more. But the absolute proof came in the form of a
recording which I personally heard of the kangaroo court that was held at this
church documenting that due process was thrown out the window. A reporter from a major newspaper in New
England flew down to this city and has
now written the story soon to be published.
Rick Warren
claims that he cannot be responsible for everything done in his name. However, in this case he is responsible
because he trains leaders of churches how to get rid of resisters and pillars,
such as how his partner, Dan Southerland, Director of Church Transitions calls
resisters “Sanballats...leaders from Hell”.
So of course Rick Warren is responsible, similar to how the RICO Act
(Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) holds leaders of
racketeering accountable, though they cleverly leave no trail and disavow any
knowledge or connection to their crimes.
The Church has this already in place if leaders in churches would
actually implement what Scripture teaches concerning church discipline. And note...we are not aware of any published
compassion and grieving or restitution for any of these saints from Rick
Warren, whose programs purpose-drive non-compliant Christians out of churches
in a host of Christian Denominations.
And with few exceptions, the majority of AOG Pastors followed suit and
likewise demonstrated no mercy or compassion for the Christians documented in
the Spiritual
Euthanasia article
that was sent to them (available at:
http://www.letusreason.org/Current61.htm).
Most simply ignored their plight and failed to even respond. And many that did actually attacked AOG
matriarch Dr. Opal Reddin, following the example set by their leader Tom Trask
who had already publicly humiliated her in the U.S. National AOG General
Assembly (where is his apology to her?).
These AOG pastors can attack and malign a God-fearing Christian widow
who was in her 80s with impunity or simply look the other way. But I will continue to defend her as well as
all of the Christians that Warren has orphaned from their churches. Of course they are not true orphans, for the
Lord is their refuge and strong tower.
In your recent
letter to Philip Powell you stated:
“I never received a response to my email to James Sundquist, so
the fact that you responded is refreshing.”
I would like to
reply:
1. I am quite shocked you
would attempt to correct Philip Powell regarding Matthew 18, while you failed
to contact me personally that you were offended that I did not respond to
you. In fact you publicly copied your
letter to me to a number of AOG pastors before and without even following your
admonition to comply with Matthew 18.
If you did not receive a response from me in a timely matter, you had
but ask me. I receive thousands of
emails from all over the world and try to answer as many as possible,
particularly the growing number of SOS calls and letters I receive from saints
who have been purpose-driven out of their churches, for as Rick Warren recently
stated...”they have to die” right?
2. Your letter of personal
dismay at me was also not written to me first or even addressed to me, but
copied to a number of people publicly on the Internet.
3. If Matthew 18 is so
urgent, why are you a follower of Rick Warren who does not comply with Matthew
18 and to date has still not responded to my two emails to him? Rick Warren has exempted himself from
Matthew 18....though many have confronted him with his fraudulent
teachings....this is also publicly known and documented in my book as
well. I agree with Philip Powell's
response to you regarding Matthew 18 and Rick Warren. I am very surprised you would not know that Matthew 18 applies
primarily to private matters vs. public teaching. I am equally surprised at the number of Assembly of God pastors
would have such a poor understanding of Matthew 18 (shared by Rick Warren, as
evidenced by his response to Deborah Dombrowski of Lighthouse Trails
Publishing), who have responded to me in the same manner. By the way, since you have transmitted and
published that you have something against Deborah Dombrowski (or George Mair
for that matter), I am sure you must have gone to her privately, since this is
your interpretation of Matthew 18. You
have accused Philip Powell of not following Matthew 18, right, before he went
public with passing Rick Warren's letter around. Did you even bother to hear Deborah's side of the story? Where is her side of the story in your email
to Philip Powell? Public false teaching
must be exposed publicly. There is
nothing private about Warren's published teachings.
4. Regarding your
commentary on Deborah Dombrowski which you sent to Philip Powell, now both you
and Rick Warren have borne false witness against her. Before you continue to pass on these false accusations all of you
need to read her rebuttal of Rick Warren's charges. I also have that letter Rick Warren sent to her and can prove
that his statements about his relationship with Ken Blanchard and his claim of
no knowledge of the PDC conference in Nairobi are full of falsehood (I have the
tapes of the speakers at conference who were sent by Rick Warren and even announced
a direct message from him, which Pastor Bob DeWaay also heard and can confirm.)
Here is the context and quote from the Nairobi conference that Rick Warren
claims no knowledge of:
The
Bishop at the Nairobi, Kenya PDC Conference at Nairobi Pentecostal Church
introduced Todd Hudnall as one of the staff of PDC. "He (Rick
Warren) has brought around himself some choice men"... He has also
been one of men on the team of the Purpose-Driven Church. He (Todd
Hudnall) is here today representing our dear brother Dr. Rick
Warren." He welcomes Todd Hudnall, who was directly commissioned by
Rick Warren himself.
AOG
PASTOR TODD HUDNALL:
"In behalf of Rick Warren I want to pass along that he is
delighted that you are here to hear this word from God today...”
So now let us contrast this with:
Written
Friday, November 18, 2005 at 3:32 AM in the morning, with Rick Warren as the
header, we were also able to track down the ISP (Internet Service Provider) for
this email, tracing it directly to Saddleback Church. Here is what the November
18, 2005 email from rdw@saddleback.net says:
“Subject: 'Don't pass on lies'
Dear Angela,
The website you refer to below is well-known for publishing lies.
which can easily be proven false. For instance, it says Pastor Warren was
to speak at Nairobi Pentecostal Church from Nov 8 to 11. This is flatly
false, as Pastor Warren has never been to this church, never heard of this
church, and was here in America the entire time. ....
Correspondence team”
Never heard of it huh? I
am afraid it is Rick Warren who is not telling the truth, not Deborah
Dombrowski! Here is the real story: http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/report.htm.
For more documentation and proof, please contact Angela at:
angela@n8tnt.com
5. I have written two
letters of appeal to AOG Pastor Tommy Barnett in Phoenix, near you, and he has
failed to respond. Both of my letters
to Assembly of God's Gabriele Rienas were ignored as well.
6.
Ninety-nine
plus percent of the recipients of my letter to thousands of AOG pastors, which
contained Dr. Opal Reddin's letter, did not respond. Of the approximately 50 responses I did receive, most were
retaliatory, attacking me personally. These responses mirrored how pastors have
treated members in their churches who even question Rick Warren's
teachings. NONE refuted me from
Scripture disproving my specific charges against Rick Warren, nor did they
reason from Scripture as Paul tells us to do.
And virtually none had any concern whatsoever for what Tom Trask did to
Opal Reddin and no concern whatsoever for the host of victims left strewn in
Warren's path, such as what AOG Pastor Wayde Goodall did to members of the
First Assembly of God in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Several responses were
very encouraging, particularly from those pastors who were students Dr. Opal
Reddin at the Assembly of God's Central Bible College where she taught. So if failure to respond to letters of
appeal is any criteria for being an AOG pastor, you have picked the wrong
denomination, as it appears that ignoring letters is standard operational
procedure within the AOG. Even George Wood, one of your top executives within
the AOG teaches ignoring “detractors” (a true Biblical response would require
them to respond). I am surprised you
would not follow Wood's party line policy to write me. I am also surprised that
you would expect a response from me.
Now I would like to respond to your accusations in your original
2/22/06 letter to me which you sent in response to my general letter of appeal
to all Assembly of God pastors:
You have provided evidence that Rick
Warren has used the term “repentance”.
But as Bob DeWaay's new book Redefining Christianity, Understanding the Purpose Driven
Movement, points out,
Warren has redefined repentance from historical biblical orthodox Christianity,
and not repentance alone, but a number of terms. The dictionary definition falls short of the biblical meaning
because one could “repent” from being a Protestant and become a Roman Catholic
as Malcolm Muggeridge did. One could
repent from being a Southern Baptist and become a Muslim, as one man reported
in the news did. One can repent from
going in one wrong direction and simply go in an equally wrong direction. If Rick Warren teaches true biblical
repentance as you claim, he would have “changed his mind” about his false
teaching about the 40 day biblical examples he gives which are false in ANY
translation you can find, which I will prove below. If Rick Warren teaches true
biblical repentance as you claim, he would have “changed his mind” about his
false teaching about the covenants and vows in clear defiance of both Christ's
and the Apostle James' warning and instead of forcing his members to take them,
found in Matthew and James.
If Rick Warren
teaches true biblical repentance as you claim, he would have “changed his mind”
about promoting his Carl Jung-based personality temperament divination embedded
in his SHAPE Program (also mandatory of his church members). If Rick Warren teaches true biblical
repentance as you claim, he would have “changed his mind” about his false
teaching about the Fear of the Lord, Doctrine, and Prophecy, as I proved in my
first book. You talk about failing to respond. Neither you nor Anthony Niger, II responded
to any of these documented examples. Both of you accused
Philip Powell of libel and slander or being a false teacher, but provided no
specific evidence, exactly what Thomas Trask failed to provide in his charges
and removal of AOG NY District Director Brother Adour or AOG Pastor Ray
Barnett. If Rick Warren teaches true
biblical repentance as you claim, he would have “changed his mind” about his
false teaching about the 40 years example of Moses in the Wilderness of how
people who oppose him “have to die”...saints purchased by the blood of
Jesus. If Rick Warren teaches true
biblical repentance as you claim, he would have “changed his mind” about his
false teaching in his Ladies
Home Journal column
which exalts self, says nothing about repentance, and does not mention the
Cross. In fact, it is another
gospel! If Rick Warren teaches true
biblical repentance as you claim, he would have “changed his mind” what he
taught in the Jewish synagogue recently in which he does not even name the name
of Jesus, the very opposite of what Paul preached every time he went into a
synagogue. Warren comes out with all
men speaking well of him, while Paul often gets stoned or put on trial after
speaking in synagogues. Even if your
account of Warren preaching repentance were 100% Biblical, it is nullified by
his much more public published articles, books, and public speaking
engagements.
Before I
address further proof that Warren's teachings belie what you defend in Warren,
I would like to point you to the following blog which is an apt description
that Warren's definition of repentance is not biblical:
http://transformingsermons.blogspot.com/2006/02/preaching-repentance.html
(Scroll down to: 10:53 pm Douglas, Preaching repentance)
Did it every
occur to any of you that Philip Powell did not simply make this up as a vain
imagination, but rather that he was telling the truth, and doing so with
specific documentation? So your
accusation against AOG matriarch Dr. Opal Reddin is without foundation. Opal was right all along!
LEE MCFARLAND:
I just have to
respond to this email that was in my “inbox” this morning… (see original email
at the bottom)… because I believe it could stumble many. It seems
like somebody is trying to carry the “banner for truth”… but I believe they are
mistaken.....James Sundquist is actually asking us to read this letter “OUT
LOUD” to our congregations… oh my goodness…. please do not do that… that sounds
like a recommendation from somebody who does not understand the dynamics of an
effective church service…
JAMES SUNDQUIST
RESPONSE:
How could you
rebuke Philip Powell for not using Matthew 18 against Rick Warren, but on the
other hand suggest that I or any Christian NOT exercise Matthew 18 and other
biblical passages in which we are commanded to mark false teachers and expose
the deeds of darkness publicly before the congregation as Paul did and commanded
us to do which he did “OUT LOUD” publicly and before the congregation that all
might fear the Lord and that the flock would be spared from wolves as well as
wolves in sheep's clothing. What other
biblical protocol is there? (Matthew 18
would require going before the congregation if an offending brother does not
repent.)
LEE MCFARLAND:
Why would
somebody be so against something that simply uses the Bible to explain what we
should be doing as a church? Here is a statement right out of “The
Purpose Driven Church”…
JAMES SUNDQUIST
RESPONSE:
Calling Rick
Warren's teaching using the Bible does not make it so. Rick Warren does not “simply use the Bible”
but a host of corrupt translations. As
to how he does use the Bible, I have shown both above
and with more examples to follow. You
are completely wrong!
LEE MCFARLAND
(citing Rick Warren):
“We believe a great commitment to the great
COMMANDMENT and the great COMMISSION will grow a great church!”
The
Great Commandment: “Jesus
said, ‘Love the Lord
your God with all your heart...soul...and mind. This is the first and
greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor
as yourself. All the Law and Prophets hang on these two commandments.’” Matt. 22:36-40
JAMES SUNDQUIST RESPONSE:
This quote (“will grow a great church”) of Rick Warren by Lee
McFarland has no basis in Scripture – it is an invention of the mass marketing
types like Warren's mentor Peter Drucker. Churches are not grown through
this means in any biblical sense. When the mass marketing types talk
about growth, they are referring to numbers. The emphasis is on getting
as many people as possible inside a building/organization. Pure doctrine,
holiness, repentance and the like become secondary...if they exist at all. This is contrary – broadly and specifically
– to Scripture. Rev 2&3 sums up concerning church growth – it is a
growth in maturity which encompasses three fundamental aspects: exceeding
in devoted love for the brothers, moral purity, and doctrinal purity. Mt
7:13-14 directly contradicts these mass marketing gurus and their false
doctrines:
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide
is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter
through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and
only a few find it.” Mt. 7:13-14
LEE MCFARLAND (citing Rick Warren):
The
Great Commission: “Jesus
said, ‘Go and make disciples
of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them
to obey everything I have commanded you.” Matt. 28:19-20
• To
“Love God with all your heart” is “WORSHIP”.
• To
“Love your neighbor as yourself” is “MINISTRY”.
• To
“Go...make disciples” is “EVANGELISM”.
• To
“Baptize...” is to “INCORPORATE
INTO FELLOWSHIP”.
• To
“Teach them...all things” is “DISCIPLESHIP”.
LEE MCFARLAND:
“How can you
argue against the five purposes right out of the Great Commandment and the
Great Commission? Ministry,
Discipleship, Evangelism, Worship, and Fellowship – which of those words is not
Biblical, or causes people to do something evil?”
JAMES SUNDQUIST
RESPONSE:
Here is how I
can argue against it. Mormons,
Jehovah's Witnesses, Roman Catholics, and yes even Muslims carry out these five
purposes of Rick Warren (Ministry, Discipleship, Evangelism, Worship, and
Fellowship). Lee McFarland mimics the
same error as his fellow AOG Pastor Niger II, Calvary Assembly in Carthage, NY
who stated:.
“All the 5 Purposes (Worship, Fellowship, Discipleship, Ministry
and Evangelism) are all Biblical Principals found throughout the Book of Acts
and can even be found in our own 16 Statements of Fundamental Truths.”
Pastor Bob
DeWaay demolishes the stronghold of this argument with this commentary on
Pastor Niger, II's statements:
“This would only be true if Rick Warren had the same definitions
for these purposes that the Bible does. For Warren Worship = music that
entertains the unregenerate; Fellowship = getting together with the
unregenerate to study Warren’s materials; Discipleship = SHAPE which is the
study of “self” not denying self as the Bible defines discipleship; Ministry =
serving Warren’s PEACE plan which has nothing to do with the great commission;
Evangelism = doing marketing surveys of worldly minded people to find out what
they want and then give that to them. NONE of this has anything to do with what
the Bible tells us to do. He has redefined every one of these words and then
convinced people that his program is what Christ had in mind. The big question
is: “why are evangelicals so deceived that they cannot see through this
deception?”
- Pastor Bob DeWaay, Twin Cities Fellowship.
What Warren,
McFarland, and Niger II have done here is not directly presenting evil – he has
presented distortions of what the goals are for the Christian. RW is a
slippery fellow and is one of the best of the syncretists out there. By doing this, how can a man of God ever
fulfill his duty to test the spirits and mark those who are teaching falsely?
By using McFarland's defense of Warren as a template, anyone could prove
that even a Mormon is a faithful Christian. In fact, there is nothing in what
McFarland presented as examples of Warren's faithful teaching that a Mormon
would not likewise teach! In fact,
except for the “P” in Warren's Global Peace Plan which calls for planting
churches, Islam can Equip leaders, Assist the Poor, Care for the Sick, and
Educate the next generation. And every Christian cult and Roman Catholicism
already does all of the letters of Warren's Global Peace Plan. The question is, what ELSE are Mormons
or other professed Christian leaders like Rick Warren teaching that does
not line up with Scripture? This is the crux of the matter! Is it not a pastor's biblical obligation to
his flock to be diligent in exposing all falsehood no matter the source? Why is
Warren apparently exempt from McFarland's deeper testing? Pastor McFarland is failing in his pastoral
duty to discern "wolves in sheep's clothing" (Matt. 7:15) and
those that appear as "angels of light" (2 Cor. 11:14). In both
cases, anyone with little discernment can point to the appearance of sheep's
clothing or the appearance of light to prove that these teachers are faithful
disciples of Christ. The problem is that McFarland refuses to acknowledge the
unbiblical aspects of Rick Warren's teachings and has unwisely decided to focus
only on the appearance of good. I
can come to no other conclusion but that Warren defenders like Pastor McFarland
are either too lazy to examine the evidence against Warren or are simply
blinded by their desire to bring worldly success to their churches at whatever
cost. To simply point out the good points of Warren's teachings and refuse
to address the bad, McFarland has failed his congregation, the Body of Christ
at large, and His Lord.
"Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put
darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and
sweet for bitter!" (Isa. 5:20).
Now, I did not
say that the use of the five purposes Warren listed were evil (as you have
accused me). But I would like to
address what Rick Warren does teach about evil that does cause many to
stumble. Quoting from my book: Rick Warren's Global Peace Plan vs.
Scriptural Teachings on Peace, please refer to paragraph later in the document entitled: SO WHAT IS THE DEFINITION OF “EVIL” ACCORDING
TO RICK WARREN?
LEE MCFARLAND:
Just as one
example that refutes what the email below …. I just looked at Saddleback’s
membership covenant, the same type as Rick Warren recommends for churches to
use… it does not in one single place ask you to “swear” or “take an oath”…take
a look for yourself…
JAMES SUNDQUIST
RESPONSE:
To suggest that
you don't swear or take an oath to a covenant is what you do when you sign or
attest to a covenant belies the very words of Scripture which states that when
God initiated his covenants he swore an oath.
Rick Warren himself even uses Nehemiah as an example of his justifying
covenants in his church. If you don't
think Nehemiah's covenant was sworn to, then you need to read the account in
the Old Testament. Jesus even refers to
the fact that swearing oaths regarding the Covenant of Moses is exactly what
they were doing. The Old Testament is
filled with these examples. Furthermore, this was not really Nehemiah's
covenant, but Nehemiah re-instituting the covenant or Law of Moses that God
gave to Moses. See 1 Chr. 24:15 & Neh. 10:20. Is Rick Warren telling us that God gave Rick Warren these new
covenants to make binding on his members?
That Testament saints made covenants that they did take oaths to, but
Rick Warren's covenants possess no oath?
Too late, we already have the New Covenant. Luke even uses covenant and oath interchangeably as referring to
the same thing:
Luke 1:73 The oath which he sware to our father Abraham,
It is known as
the Abrahamic Covenant....so of course a covenant was sworn to.
“I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give
to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am
the Lord.” Exodus 6:8
And again we
read:
Act 2:30 Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn
with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he
would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;
What does
Pastor Lee McFarland think one does with a Covenant if not sworn to? For him to make this statement is just
beyond astonishing. And even if they
are not sworn to but simply signed, the net effect is the same when non-signers
are removed or purpose-driven out of their church.
LEE MCFARLAND
(citing Rick Warren):
The Saddleback
Membership Covenant
“Having received Christ as my
Lord and Savior and been baptized, and being in agreement with Saddleback’s
statements, strategy and structure, I now feel led by the Holy Spirit to unite
with the Saddleback church family. In doing so, I commit myself to God
and to the other members to do the following:
I.___ I will
protect the unity of my church
...By
acting in love toward other members
...By
refusing to gossip
...By
following the leaders
“So let us concentrate on the
things which make for harmony, and on the growth of our fellowship together.” Rom. 15:19 (Ph)
Romans 14:19 says this; 'Let us
concentrate on the things that make for harmony and the growth of our fellowship together.' [emphasis James]
JAMES SUNDQUIST RESPONSE:
Rick Warren uses the Phillips translation. Now let us compare this
verse to what the verse really says::
“Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace,
and things wherewith one may edify another.” Romans 14:19 KJV
and the Greek:
http://www.blueletterbible.org/tmp_dir/c/1151946086-8104.html#19
Note there is nothing in there about
church growth! In fact there is nothing in Scripture that gives us a
mandate to grow the church or commandments to do so! Quoting this subjective translation by J.B. Phillips is one more
example of Rick Warren going beyond what is written and and inventing what the
Scriptures actually say. Todd Hudnall,
another AOG pastor and international leader of Warren's Purpose Driven Church
promoted the same error in the PDC Conference in Nairobi, Kenya, 2005. So much for the warning of adding to God's
Word. Lee McFarland insists that Warren
uses the Bible....but his teaching on church growth, just like Warren 40 Day
examples are found nowhere in Scripture.
Forcing fellow Christians out of your church for refusing to sign Warren
covenants and marking them the way Warren does, is hardly a way to make peace
and edify one another! Just ask the
growing number of saints who have been purpose-driven from their churches (see Spiritual Euthanasia article for more proof).
See: http://www.letusreason.org/Current61.htm
LEE MCFARLAND:
“Live in complete harmony with each other —
each with the attitude of Christ toward each other.” Rom 15:5 (LB)
“Have a sincere love for your fellow
believers, love one another earnestly with all your hearts.” 1 Peter 1:22 (GN)
“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out
of our mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to
their needs...”
Eph. 4:29
“Obey your leaders and submit to their
authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an
account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for
that would be no advantage to you.” Heb. 13:17
JAMES SUNDQUIST RESPONSE:
Of course, these commands from Scripture must be followed.
But there is nothing in Scripture which even suggests that a brother is
to take anything that even resembles an oath or promise with respect to Heb
13:17. What if the leaders are rotten and corrupt such as Diotrephes in
John 3? Our allegiance is not to any man – not even to Rick Warren. Our
allegiance is to Jesus Christ and the Word of God.
LEE MCFARLAND (citing Rick Warren):
II.__ I will
share the responsibility of my church
...By
praying for its growth
...By
inviting the unchurched to attend
...By
warmly welcoming those who visit
The upcoming
“Purpose-Driven, Spirit Led” Conference in April of 2006 has a great
title: “Uncompromised”.
http://www.purposedriven.com/en-US/Events/PurposeDrivenPentecostalCharismatic-LakeForestCA/Uncompromised_home.htm Rick Warren will be the first
to tell you – you don’t have to compromise your theological or spiritual
beliefs – especially Pentecostal beliefs – in order to be “purpose-driven”,
because purpose-driven is not a program or a theological statement – it is a
Biblical model Jesus established for what churches should be doing until Jesus
comes back.
JAMES SUNDQUIST
RESPONSE:
More lies and
distortions. IT IS A THEOLOGICAL STATEMENT AND PROGRAM! These
people are so bold, so brazen, in their distortions that few pay any attention.
They use words the way the Communists do – who cares what it really means
except that it sounds good and that the last word is clear: OBEY POPE
RICK OR IT’S CURTAINS FOR YOU!
Your leader,
Thomas Trask, U.S. National Assemblies of God National Superintendent has
clearly compromised. Here is proof:
“Thomas
Trask
General Superintendent of Assemblies of God Tom Trask, general
superintendent of the Assemblies of God Church and overseer of Assemblies of
God which credentialed Pastor Todd Hudnall, is now helping spearhead the Centennial
of the Azusa Street Revival in April 2006 in Los Angeles, where Rick Warren
will be a keynote speaker. Some of the other apostate teachers invited to speak
at this conference include Kenneth Copeland, T. D. Jakes, Bill Hamon (Apostolic
and Prophetic Ministry Today),180 Roman Catholic Francis MacNutt,181 Jack
Hayford, David Cho, Creflo Dollar. See www.azuzsastreet100.net/events.htm for
speaker roster.” James Sundquist, Rick Warren's Global Peace Plan vs.
Scriptural Teachings on Peace, Bible Belt Publishing, pp. 104-105, 2006
LEE MCFARLAND:
There are
several of us Assembly of God pastors who will be speaking at this conference,
and we do so with complete confidence, knowing that we will in no way
compromise our beliefs about our “Pentecostal distinctives”. There is a
pastor from the Calvary Chapel movement who will be speaking… there is a pastor
from a non-denominational perspective as well… clearly this Biblical model
crosses all denominational lines, without compromising beliefs.
JAMES SUNDQUIST
RESPONSE:
Chuck Smith,
the head of all Calvary Chapels has now come out denouncing Rick Warren's
teachings and has now stated that any Calvary Chapel using their materials can
no longer be called a Calvary Chapel.
And Calvary Chapel never has “Pentecostal distinctives”...read the
history of how it was formed. Chuck
Smith started Calvary Chapel to be NON-denominational and with disctinctives
which are NOT the Foursquare (“Pentecostal distinctives”) of Life Bible College,
or Assemblies of God for that matter.
Read their history.
LEE MCFARLAND:
Just one more
example that was made by Mr. Sundquist… that Rick Warren doesn’t have
“repentance” in his teaching materials or book… let’s just go straight to what
Rick Warren himself has said on the subject:
JAMES SUNDQUIST RESPONSE:
This is really Assembly of God Dr. Opal Reddin's statement. So you are really accusing her of being a
false teacher: She is talking about
true biblical repentance and I agree with her as I will prove. Furthermore, McFarland never read my other
examples, evidenced by his comments on things I clearly stated in my books and
emails to all of these AOG pastors to whom I sent my complete documentary on
Rick Warren.
LEE MCFARLAND
(citing Rick Warren):
It's OK to Preach Repentance
In fact, that's what preaching is all about.
[Excerpted from Preaching magazine. By Rick Warren]
Rick Warren's preaching has a purpose. He expects people to turn
from their old ways. Here are some of his principles on preaching for life
change:
1. All behavior is based on
belief. If somebody gets
a divorce it is because they have a belief behind that: "I think I'll be
happier" or whatever.
JAMES SUNDQUIST
RESPONSE:
The lies and
distortions continue: What we do is based on whether we are obedient to
Christ and His Word or not – as believers. The pagans are slaves to their
lusts, as we once were. As to whether we believers are obedient or not is
based on how much we put the flesh to death and/or give heed to the schemes of
the devil.
LEE MCFARLAND
(citing Rick Warren):
2. Behind every sin is a lie of unbelieving. You think you are doing what's best for
you, but you have been deceived. The Bible tells us that Satan deceives us.
JAMES SUNDQUIST
RESPONSE:
Simplification
is being done here in order to craft people into becoming RW clones. This
is so amazingly naïve and contrary to orthodoxy, I don’t know what to say.
Sin is disobedience.
LEE MCFARLAND
(citing Rick Warren):
3. Change always starts in
the mind. "Be
transformed by the renewing of your mind" (Rom. 12:2). The Bible teaches
clearly that the way we think affects the way we feel, and the way we feel
affects the way we act.
JAMES SUNDQUIST
RESPONSE:
Once more, it
is evident that McFarland did not read my my book (Who's Driving the Purpose Driven Church) with extensive commentary on Warren's
misguided teaching on transformation which is in Chapter One.
LEE MCFARLAND
(citing Rick Warren):
4. Change beliefs first. Trying to change behavior without
changing beliefs is a waste of time. Say I have a boat on auto pilot headed
north. If I want it to head south, I have two options: I could wrestle the
steering wheel or (the better way) change the auto pilot.
JAMES SUNDQUIST
RESPONSE:
Changing what
we do must first start with conversion to Christ and then responding to His
commands as given in His Word. If we don’t have His Word, He will impress
on our conscience what to do.
Rick Warren loves
to talk about boats! Here is one of his
latest What to do when
your church hits a plateau, where he states:
"If your
church has been plateaued for six months, it might take six
months to get it going again. If it's been plateaued a year, it might take
a
year. If it's been plateaued for 20 years, you've got to set in for
the duration!
"I'm saying some people are going to have to die or leave. Moses had to
wander around the desert for 40 years while God killed off a million
people before he let them go into the Promised Land. That may be brutally
blunt, but it's true. There may be people in your church who love God
sincerely, but who will never, ever change"
No sooner has
Warren distanced himself from the Left Behind violent video
game for which Warren's PDC Director Mark Carver was one on the board
of advisers for that company in which many have to die than he tells his followers
that many have to die in churches in order to follow him! Warren
exhibits a more horrific understanding of Exodus than I have ever heard from a
pastor. Warren has it backwards who would really be swallowed up by
the earth! So now Warren is Moses? All Christians who murmur
against Rick Warren's vision from God "have to die"!
Warren has the Exodus story backwards. It is Warren that needs to let
God's people go from the bondage he has put them in! Warren also has his
oil tanker example backwards. It is the Purpose Driven Church and his
Global Peace Plan that is the oil tanker that must turn around. Had its
captain obeyed Scripture this tanker would not have been going in the wrong
direction in the first place. Meanwhile the propeller for Rick Warren's
Purpose Driven oil tanker continues to chew up Christians leaving them
dismembered as bloodied corpses left in the wake. And sure enough, Rick
Warren is getting his wish! Those, in
Warren's words who "have to die" are Christians. The earth must
swallow up these murmurers as in the book of Exodus simply because they oppose
Warren's teachings or refuse to sign his unbiblical covenants? So
Warren is now the Moses for the church of the whole earth? And
remember it was not Moses' decision to cause a million to die for their
rebellion, is was God's. Moses was the humblest man to walk the
earth...at least he understood what the book of Exodus really said.
Besides it is not these resisters who are in rebellion...they are simply the messengers.
It is Rick Warren and the hundreds of thousands of pastors and millions who
follow him who are in rebellion. God help us!!
And
here is what the Berean Call has to say about Warren's article What to do when
your church hits a plateau:
[TBC: In this sloppy application of Scripture, Mr. Warren
clearly
hasn't thought through what he has said. Warren admits that these
people "love God sincerely," but for the sake of the program
they must "die or leave."
Further, we are told in Scripture why the
people died in the
wilderness. Whether he realizes it or not, Mr. Warren has identified godly
people with the following individuals:
1 Corinthians 10:5:
But with many of them God was not well pleased: for
they were overthrown in the wilderness.
6: Now these things were our examples, to
the intent we should not lust
after evil things, as they also lusted.
7: Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The
people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
8: Neither let us commit fornication, as
some of them committed, and
fell in one day three and twenty thousand.
9: Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were
destroyed of serpents.
10: Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were
destroyed of the destroyer.
And here is
Paul Proctor's most incisive News with Views commentary on Rick Warren's incomprehensible and reprehensible
article:
http://www.newswithviews.com/PaulProctor/proctor95.htm
* * * * *
LEE MCFARLAND
(citing Rick Warren):
5. I don't change people's minds, God's Word does. "We speak words given to us by the
Spirit using the Spirit's word to explain spiritual truth" (1 Cor. 2:13
NLT). Both Word and Spirit elements are in preaching, and often we leave out
the Spirit element. Spiritual warfare is tearing down mental strongholds. Our
weapons have power, pulling down every argument, every pretension.
JAMES SUNDQUIST
RESPONSE:
This is just
another shameful distortion and once again omits what this passage is totally
saying. Rick Warren leaves out the crucial phrase
of this verse which states “not in
words which man's wisdom teacheth” (KJV).
The complete context of this passage also includes verse 12 which
states: “spirit of the world”. Now it
is not surprising that Rick Warren leaves this out because his teachings are
saturating with this world's wisdom and principles of this world. Warren compounds his error by not even
correctly defining “spiritual warfare” which must describe principalities and
demonic spirits that we war against.
I am surprised you did not catch this since you quote Ephesians on
spiritual warfare in your letter to Philip Powell! Dr. Opal Reddin personally sent me much of her own writings on
spiritual warfare which she also taught at Central Bible College. So it is surprising that the leadership of
the AOG would buy in to Warren's philosophy.
You won't find these principalities dealt with in Warren's Global Peace
Plan either! We are certainly commanded to cast down vain strongholds of
imagination (which Warren clears does not do but entertains them and promotes
them). But “an argument” or “mental
stronghold” are not the servants of Satan who are masquerading as apostles of
Christ. Spiritual warfare is
recognizing that the demonic forces that use Rick Warren's false teachings to fool people that they are
following Christ or that they are, indeed, Christians. Or, generally,
spiritual warfare is first of all recognizing the demonic world’s tremendous
power and then asking the Spirit to stop the devil’s power from overcoming us.
The Spirit also helps us to become aware of the devil’s schemes. But the schemes themselves are not our
opposition. I am shocked that an
Assembly of God pastor who should know better would quote this erroneous
teaching on spiritual warfare being promulgated by Rick Warren. For a wake up call, AOG Pastor (Tom Trask,
George Wood) and a host of AOG pastors
who promote Warren need to read this Scripture:
Eph 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this
world, against spiritual wickedness in high [places].
LEE MCFARLAND (citing Rick Warren):
6. Changing the way people
act is the fruit of repentance. Repentance is not behavioral change; it results in behavioral
change. Repentance happens in your mind. That 's why John the Baptist says to
produce fruit in keeping with repentance. "I preach that they should repent and
turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds" (Acts 26:20).
7. The deepest preaching,
bar none, is preaching for repentance. Many preachers are great at interpretation, good at application,
but not willing to call for repentance. I preach repentance every Sunday. I
talk about "changing your mind" and "paradigm shift." But
every message comes down to two words: Will you? "Will you change the way
you're thinking?" If you are not preaching repentance, you're not
preaching.
Excerpted from Preaching
magazine. Rick Warren is pastor of Saddleback Community Church in Lake Forest,
California.
JAMES SUNDQUIST
RESPONSE:
Not everything
Rick Warren says is false.
Nevertheless, truth plus error = error.
All cults and all major religions teach many things which are true...but
that is why they are so deceptive! Pastor Bob DeWaay's commentary on Warren
sometimes telling the truth is quite appropriate:
“What we have going on here is people finding places where Warren
teaches the truth and using that to defend his whole movement. Personally, I am
not claiming that Warren does not know the truth, and in many cases he
privately believes it. But when he speaks to the people who need to know the
truth the worst, like the readers of PDL, and Ladies Home Journal, and United
Nations, then he does not give them the truth, but what he thinks they want to
hear. If an evangelical pastor gets a hearing with Warren, Warren will
definitely say he believes in repentance. He can get people in his church to
say they have heard him talk about it. But does he preach it to the lost? NO!!!
He tells them to work on their self esteem.
Warren’s defenders claim that if he teaches some truth in some
places, that justifies him teaching lies and errors to the masses. But we are
never justified in hiding the truth, misusing the Bible, and teaching error.
And if he knows better, then he is all the more blameworthy!”
Also hear is
commentary at: http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/Critical_Issues_Commentary/archives.asp?bcd=2006-7-10.
In this program Brian Flynn and Bob DeWaay discus the gap between
private orthodox beliefs and public statements that contradict these that
characterize the Purpose Driven movement.
This commentary is brilliant and much needed!
LEE MCFARLAND:
Please be
encouraged… when people are attacking something like Purpose-Driven Church,
it’s because they haven’t actually read about it, or met Rick Warren, or been
to the Purpose-Driven Church conferences… but most importantly, they are
attributing evil to a man who is just trying to help pastors be better pastors…
and trying to help people understand the reason they have been placed on this
earth by God…
JAMES SUNDQUIST
RESPONSE:
Well I am not
encouraged by false teachings and I most certainly am not encouraged by AOG
Pastor Lee McFarland and Anthony Niger, II bearing false witness against both
Philip Powell and me as well as Dr. Opal Reddin. Lee McFarland implies that I have not read Rick Warren's
writings, or else I would see that he is just trying to help pastors be better
pastors. But I have thoroughly
researched Rick Warren's teachings, line by line, precept upon precept and
comparing them directly with Scripture.
That is how I know he is a false teacher and his claims are
fraudulent. It has becoming increasingly
apparent that Lee McFarland has not even read either of my books on Rick Warren
because I answered many of his criticisms already...and yes with
documentation. No I have not met Rick
Warren. But I have not met the Pope,
the Dalai Lama, or Dr. Hugh Ross either.
All of their teachings are well-known and published. So why would I have to meet him? Is meeting him going to cause fairy dust to
come down over my eyes that I would become deceived to believe a false teacher?
I don't have to meet him to mark him. There is no Scripture to prove that Paul
or John ever met many of the false teachers they marked. And I would not need to attend a Purpose
Driven Conference to identify Warren as a false teacher...there is already
plenty to expose him in his Purpose Driven Life book, Ladies
Home Journal column,
and radio and television appearances.
Nevertheless, I have listened to the entire tapes of the Purpose Driven
Conference in Nairobi, 2005 which I comment on in my second book on Rick
Warren. Had Lee McFarland read that
commentary along with Bob DeWaay's commentary on that conference he might not
have been so reckless to make his accusations, for I addressed them. Finally, Rick Warren is not helping pastors
be better pastors who simply regurgitate his parade of errors and use his
sermons vs. studying the Word primarily to show himself a workman
approved. Rick Warren is deceiving
pastors and making them worse pastors and poor shepherds who are not guarding
the flock against Warren's false teachings which I have only partly addressed
in this letter. Rick Warren's supposed
examples of teaching truth and repentance loses all credibility because
elsewhere he contradicts his own teachings as this document proves. He should not be helping pastors at all, but
rather should be disqualified as a pastor!
He has not helped people better understand their place on the earth but
confused them and led them astray, and abusively treated resisters through the
training he provides churches leaders throughout the world who follow his
template.
Were Rick
Warren to preach the unadulterated Word of God and repent to the host of
churches, denominations he has led astray, families he has destroyed, and
renounce his own books, then perhaps he might help people understand why they
have been placed on earth. You and your pastor partners in the AOG
such as Tom Trask, George Wood, Todd Hudnall, Anthony Niger II, Tommy Barnett,
Wesley Shortridge, Bill Ellis, Randy D. Rice, Jonathan Chambers, Chris
McMillan, Dan Lumadue, Mark Canfield, Rich Fogal, David Crosby, Sr., (AOG
District Sec. Treasurer in Pennsylvania), Tom Grazioso, Joe Fuiten, Randy
Carter, E.G. Olsen, Chris Hickle, Ken Burtram (Potomac AOG District Sec.
Treasurer), Wayde Goodall,
and a host of others who promote Rick
Warren and/or have attacked me and Dr. Opal Reddin (many even calling Opal's
letter of appeal “spam”) must also repent for you too are all guilty of forming
an unholy alliance with him.
You and Rick
Warren may have a vast network of Assembly of God Pastors, District Directors,
national AOG Supervisors, a half a millions pastors around the world, Rupert
Murdock, major secular as well as Christian publishers and Christian radio
stations and magazines, and a vast fortune promoting Rick Warren's Purpose
Driven Church, Purpose
Driven Life, and his
programs on how do deal with what George Woods calls “detractors” and Warren
calls “resisters” on your side. But I
and many others have one thing you all lack, working in our favor, and that is
the truth. You may be able to snuff out
the voice of the righteous widow of Dr. Opal Reddin's, as Tom Trask did. But I heard her voice, and more importantly
the Lord heard her cries. And those of
us who know the truth will not be silenced.
There is a remnant out there who have discernment ministries and who are
good Bereans who are not being silenced and will not be silenced.
If there
still remains any doubt that we are attributing evil to a man unjustly, then I
appeal to you to read the following which is more proof regarding Rick
Warren. I don't determine what is evil,
Scripture determines this.
WHY
THE ASSEMBLIES OF GOD LEADERS SHOULD HAVE REJECTED RICK WARREN'S
PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE BOOK AND HIS 40 DAYS OF PURPOSE BEFORE THEY EVEN GOT TO DAY ONE
OF HIS 40 DAYS OF PURPOSE:
RICK
WARREN'S 40 DAY INVENTIONS VS. WHAT THE BIBLE REALLY SAYS ABOUT EACH 40 DAY
EXAMPLE
“Noah’s
Life was transformed by 40 days of rain” (Purpose Driven Life p. 10)
Is this true?
No! Noah was not transformed..he had already been transformed and had
been preaching for 120 years…the 40 days marked judgment for all of the people
on the earth OUTSIDE of the Ark…who drowned! See Genesis 6-9
“Moses was transformed by 40 Days on Mount Sinai”(Purpose Driven Life p.
10) Is this true?
NO! Moses was given his purpose at the burning
bush BEFORE these 40 Days on Mt. Sinai.
See
Exodus Chapters 3, 21-25
“The spies were transformed by 40 Days in the Promised Land” (Purpose Driven Life p.
10) Is this true?
No!10 Spies were not
changed. 2 were already
faithful but NONE were transformed
in the Promised Land” See Numbers 13:30-33
“David was transformed by Goliath’s 40 Day challenge” (Purpose Driven Life p.
10) Is this true?
NO! David was already a man
after God’s own heart…and didn’t even show up to until the END of Goliath's 40
day challenge.
See I Samuel Chapter 17
“Elijah was
transformed when God gave him 40 days of strength from a single meal”
(Purpose Driven Life p. 10)
Is this true?
NO!
It was 2 meals to
simply strengthen him…and Elijah had already been given his purpose….no
transformation here! See I Kings
Chapter 19
“The entire city
of Nineveh was transformed when God gave the people forty days to change.” (Purpose Driven Life p. 10) Is this true?
NO. The 40 days were given as a deadline to
judgment…but they repented long before then..no process of transformation that
took 40 days here! See Book of Jonah
“Elijah was
transformed when God gave him 40 days of strength from a single meal”
(Purpose Driven Life p. 10) Is this true?
NO! It was 2 meals to simply strengthen him…and
Elijah had already been given his purpose….no transformation here! See I Kings Chapter 19
“Jesus was
empowered by 40 days in the wilderness.” (Purpose
Driven Life p. 10) Is this true?
NO! This is completely wrong!
Jesus was tempted
during the 40 days not empowered…furthermore He was already all powerful and
his purpose was already known by Himself before the foundation of the
world! SEE Matthew Chapter 4 Mark
Chapter 1, Luke Chapter 4
“The disciples
were transformed by 40 days with Jesus after his resurrection.”
(Purpose Driven Life, p. 10) IS THIS RIGHT?
NO! The Disciples were already not conformed to
this world and already had their purpose…if anything they were transformed at
Pentecost…that’s 50 days, not 40 days!
See Acts 1:3
******************
RICK
WARREN'S COVENANT (P. 13 PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE) VS. SCRIPTURE
Aside from the
fact that Rick Warren asks you to sign a covenant at the beginning of his book
without having read the book to be a good Berean to see if these things be true
(who among you would sign a contract before reading it?), and Rick Warren
comparing his covenant to Nehemiah (which was really God's covenant given to
Moses, simply reinstated), let's see what Jesus Christ and his Apostle James
have to say about oaths that Warren makes binding on his congregation, defying
even the Apostle Paul who condemning anyone trying to put us back under the law
and the traditions of men:
“Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time,
Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths:
But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is
God’s throne: Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem;
for it is the city of the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head,
because thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your communication
be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for
whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.”
—Matthew 5:33–37 [emphasis
mine]
“But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven,
neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and
your nay, nay; lest ye
fall into condemnation.”
[emphasis mine]
— James 5:12
Dr. Opal Reddin,
Professor at Assembly of God's Central Bible College for 24 years, knew ALL OF THESE THINGS, and reviewed my
book and emails before publishing, easily discernible to any good Berean
willing to check out the facts in Scripture.
So why didn't Tom Trask, General Supt of the AOG know that Rick Warren's
accounts of the 40 Days in the Bible were fiction and fraudulent, and if he did
know, that is even more frightening that he would still promote Rick Warren and
his programs! And why didn't a host of
AOG Pastors such as Lee McFarland both to check the Scriptures to see if Warren
was telling the truth or not?
RICK
WARREN'S DEFINITION OF EVIL
AOG Pastor Lee
McFarland insists that Rick Warren really teaches true biblical repentance and
that he “simply uses the Bible”. For you to affirm and quote of Rick
Warren's apparent teaching of repentance to carry any credibility whatsoever,
it must begin with fear of the Lord which is the beginning of wisdom. No fear of the Lord, then no beginning of wisdom and without this
beginning there can be no repentance for you have removed its foundation.
“If the foundations be destroyed, what
can the righteous do?” Psalm 11:3
So let's see
what Rick Warren teaches about fear of the Lord.
This taken from my book Rick Warren's Global Peace Plan vs. Scriptural Teachings on Peace:
Fear of the Lord
It it not surprising that there are no published
statements by Rick
Warren mentioning the fear of the Lord in his global
PEACE plan,
because he does not teach it in his Purpose Driven Life book, the
trunk from which the branch of his global PEACE plan
grew. In
fact, he teaches the opposite: “We give ourselves to
him, not out
of fear or duty, but in love.”18
He later states: “We obey God, not out of duty or fear or
compulsion, but because we love him and trust that he
knows
what is best for us.”19
And a third time: “We don’t serve God out of guilt or fear
or even duty, but out of joy, and deep gratitude for
what he’s
done for us.”20
Warren also quotes Psalm 147:11 from the CEV: “The
Lord is
pleased only with those who worship him and trust his
love.”21
In the spirit of omission so prevalent in Warren’s
publications,
this mangled translation takes away the most important
qualifier—
the most important phrase—“for those who fear him.”
“The Lord
taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those
that hope in his mercy.”22 According to Strong’s Lexicon, the Hebrew
word for “fear” is yare which means reverence and fear.
But of course we obey and give ourselves to Him out of
the
fear of the Lord. For more documentation on the fear
of the Lord,
see the article “Fear of the Lord”23 and chapter three
of Who’s
Driving the Purpose Driven Church?24
Scripture says much about fearing the Lord:
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and
the
knowledge of the holy is understanding.25
There is no fear of God before their eyes.26
According to Strong’s Lexicon, the Greek for “fear” here is phobos,
which means “fear, dread, terror, reverence.”
. . . Let us have grace, whereby we may serve God
acceptably
with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a
consuming
fire. 27
Without this critical ingredient, Rick Warren’s PEACE
plan
does not have a legitimate beginning or foundation.
There is no
expiration date on the fear of the Lord (it will be
present even
during the millennium, Jesus Christ’s global peace
plan on earth).
Any true peace plan for the earth must contain this
pillar. The
Antichrist’s peace platform certainly won’t contain
it. At the
end of the age, an angel from Heaven affirms that
fearing the
Lord is an everlasting command, which therefore must
extend
it through the millennium: “And I saw another angel
fly in the
midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto
them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and
kindred,
and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God,
and give glory to him. . . .”28
Sundquist, James, Rick Warren's Global
Peace Plan vs. Scriptural Teachings on Peace, pp. 20-22,
Bible Belt Publishing, 2006
17 Matthew 12:29
18 The
Purpose Driven Life (Zondervan
Publishing, 2005), p. 77
19 Ibid., p. 95
20 Ibid., p. 228
21 Ibid., p. 6422 Psalm 147:11
23 Rock Salt Publishing
24 Bible Belt Publishing, Oklahoma City, 2004
25 Proverbs 9:10
26 Romans 3:18
27 Hebrews 12:28–29
SO WHAT IS THE DEFINITION OF “EVIL” ACCORDING
TO RICK WARREN?
What Is the Definition of Evil?
If anyone on the earth should be able to define
“evil,” it should
be “America’s pastor” . . . but this is not the case.
Here are some
excerpts of what Rick Warren said at a conference in
July 2005 at
the Aspen
Institute, an organization that promotes
the New Age
[more accurately, the new world order], where he was a
featured
speaker on the panel entitled: “The Problem of
Evil.”47
In fact, I don’t think evil and sin are the same. . .
. We don’t
know the answers . . . we really don’t. . . . None of
us are going
to come out at the end of the day and say, “Got that
one
figured out.” If you do, please write the book on it
and I will
buy it. . . . I don’t think it [evil] is the same
thing as sin. . . . I
don’t consider myself an evil person because I sin. .
. . I think
you have to reserve the word “evil” for “evil.” . . .
I haven’t yet
found a good definition of it. . . . Maybe Peter has.
I was the
one who suggested this topic, by the way, because I
wanted to
hear what Alan and Peter had to say about it because
these are
two men I have respected for years—read all their
stuff—and
I really came to take notes. . . . We can become an
evil person
by making bad choices. . . . I think evil is
metastazation where
it just takes over. . . .47
July 8 morning session: American Experience: The Problem of Evil, with Rev. Peter Gomes and Pastor Rick Warren;
moderator: Alan Wolfe. Aspen Institute Conference, July 8, 2005, compact disc.
Later on in this panel discussion, Rick Warren
continued:
You’re a good man [referring to Alan Wolfe] . . . when we begin
to compartmentalize our lives we’re headed for evil
[emphasis
mine]. . . . I don’t act one way with Alan and another way
over here with Mrs. Resnick and another way over here
with
Alan Simpson . . . okay? . . . I am the same no matter
where I
am. What you see is what you get. Rick Warren has
integrity
because he doesn’t act one way with one crowd and
another
way with another crowd. He is integrated . . . and
when what
I see in our society today is a misunderstanding of
character
that thinks I can compartmentalize this area of my
life and
then go do this the next day and that’s how they would
justify
it. And I think that total compartmentalization is a
myth
and moves us towards more and more evil. . . . As I
pointed
out yesterday, Abraham Lincoln and Washington said
things
that President Bush could never get away with today.
There
was far more God talk. Go to the second inaugural
address of
Lincoln. Read it in the Lincoln Memorial. And it is
full of God
is on our side talk.
I can’t imagine any Christian wanting the pastor of
their own
church (let alone following him globally as the leader
of hundreds
of thousands of churches) to be someone who is
still looking for a
good definition of “evil.” Scripture tells us that
God’s “people are
destroyed for lack of knowledge.”48 We already have
the ultimate
authoritative book which defines “evil”and good: the
Bible.
Rick Warren proceeds to remark that he doesn’t know
objectively
what evil is, but that he would recognize it if he saw
it.
Are we to depend on his subjective assessment of what
constitutes
evil? We don’t need Rick Warren’s subjective
assessment
48 Hosea 4:6 of what constitutes evil because we have the objective
criteria.
The word “evil” occurs 613 times in the King James
Bible, and
Scripture goes into elaborate detail defining and
describing not
only what evil is, but who is evil. Subjective definitions of evil
produced gnosticism and mysticism, Christianity’s
earliest heresies,
as evidenced by the teachings of the “desert fathers,”
now
being imported into the church by Rick Warren and the
emerging
church movements.49
Contradicting his earlier statement that he could not
find a
good definition of evil, Rick Warren then goes on to
define it by
telling us that sin doesn’t become evil until it metastasizes, that
sin in and of itself is not yet evil. This may sound
right, but is
it? My father was a physician and often talked to me
about the
word metastasize, particularly as it corresponded to whether
cancer was malignant. So when I heard Rick Warren
describe the
process and meaning of “metastasize,” I knew he was
wrong.
Medically, metastasize is defined: “To
spread to another part of
the body, usually through the blood vessels, lymph
channels or
spinal fluid.”50
This definition virtually echoes the scriptural
process of
unholy leaven in a lump, i.e., it spreads until the
entire loaf is
leavened. When Jesus warns us of the leaven of the
Pharisees and
Herod, and when the apostle Paul cautions that a
little leaven
leavens the whole lump, they are not saying that
leaven is not
evil or wicked until it spreads (i.e., while it is
still small), but it
is already evil at the beginning before it spreads throughout the
entire lump.
For more information on “desert fathers,” see:
www.abrahamic-faith.com/James/
Part%20X%20Enneagram%20Profiling%20vs.%20Scripture%20Documentary.html
and, “The Emergent Church,” Albert James Dager, Media Spotlight, Volume 28, Number 4, 2005.50
www.cancerweb.ncl.ac.uk/cgi-bin/ombd?metastasize
leaven leaveneth the whole lump?”51
From Rick Warren’s analogy, we would be led to believe
that
sin is not evil until it spreads. But sin is evil,
period! It does not
need to spread (metastasize) to become evil. Even if
this were
true, who decides at which point of sins’ spread now
qualifies
as evil? Rick Warren? Scripture?
It is supremely ironic that Rick Warren would give us
this
definition of evil, because later in the panel
discussion Rick Warren
warns of the danger of absolute power. He describes
why
there are three branches of government: to balance
power and
keep each branch in check. Yet he retains absolute
sovereignty in
his own church and trains thousands of purpose-driven
churches
to vest a single pastor with the authority to cast the
vision for the
church through Dan Sutherland’s Church Transitions
organization,
which has already trained 100,000 church leaders.
Warren
should heed his own advice given on “Larry King Live”:
“You
give a guy a little bit of power and they turn into
Stalin.”52 And
yet Rick Warren is quite forthright in announcing that
he is going
to be the general of his
billion-man Christian army.53
Warren tells us Abraham Lincoln said that God is on
our
side, but that is not what Lincoln actually said. Here
is Lincoln’s
comment from a conversation in the White House during
the
Civil War. Note that, in fact, Lincoln says quite the
opposite of
what Warren alleges: “Sir, my concern is not whether
God is on
our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side,
for God is
always right.”
Warren also referred to Lincoln’s second inaugural
address,
where we can read just how much God was on our side.54
(I did as Rick Warren suggested at the Aspen
Conference—I looked
up and read Lincoln’s second inaugural address.)
Nothing like
what Warren states is in this address. Lincoln did
quote Jesus
Christ from Matthew 18:7: “The Almighty has His own
purposes.
‘Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must
needs be
that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the
offense
cometh.’”
A Christian leader or pastor should be able to discern
evil and
be a discerner of spirits. Otherwise, how does he
detect doctrines
of demons, false teachings, or when a wolf is in the
sheepfold? If
we are good Bereans, we can ferret out a false teacher
using the
objective criteria of Scripture. Rick Warren, by his
own testimony,
can’t do that, so would we want him as “America’s
pastor” as
Time has dubbed him? I don’t think so!
Further, it is clear Rick Warren does not recognize a
false
teacher, or evil in his own midst (or at least does
not mark him
as such). Rev. Peter Gomes, his co-panelist, is openly
gay,55 and is
a universalist (confirmed by him at the Aspen
Conference when
Rev. Gomes was asked about his new book). He is a
professor
and chairman of Christian morals at Harvard
University, and a
fellow of the Jesus Seminar (which thinks it can
determine what
parts of Scripture are authentic)—what a mockery of
God! But
Warren proclaims that he is a great admirer of Gomes
and has
read all his works.
Rick Warren’s effusive praise of Peter Gomes is quite
ironic,
given that Warren now distances himself from Dr.
Robert Schuller,
who is also a universalist.56 It is difficult to
believe that Warren
would discover that Schuller is a false teacher in
only the
last few years, when his full-blown heresies were in
full public
view in 1990 as he took his “self-esteem” gospel to
Russia (a
message mirrored in Warren’s March 2005 Ladies Home Journal
article). Schuller’s departure from orthodox
Christianity can be
documented as early as 1982, when he published his
well-known
book entitled Self-Esteem: The New Reformation. (See the section
in this document on “New Reformation.”)
Rick Warren further states at the Aspen Conference
that he
does not compartmentalize, that he is the same before
all audiences,
and that he is not duplicitous. This statement is the
height
of absurdity! According to Warren’s definition of
evil, one who
increasingly compartmentalizes his life would then
render Warren
evil by his own definition, as we read the doctrinal
position
statements of his Saddleback Church and then compare
it to his
March 2005 Ladies Home Journal column. You will clearly see how
double-minded Rick Warren is.57
51 1 Corinthians 5:6; see also Galatians 5:9
52 CNN, “Larry King Live,” December 2, 2005
53 www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2005/0101/17.32.html
54 It can be found at www.bartleby.com/124/pres32.html
55 www.creationists.org/resp0013.html
56 For proof of Dr. Robert Schuller’s promotion of
universalism, listen to the Southwest Radio Ministries interview of Warren
Smith, December 15–16, 2005—www.swrc.com/broadcasts/2005/december.htm.
57 www.newswithviews.com/PaulProctor/proctor66.htm
Sundquist, James, Rick Warren's Global Peace Plan vs. Scriptural Teachings on Peace, pp. 28-33,
Bible Belt Publishing, 2006
ASSEMBLY OF GOD CHURCHES UNWITTINGLY PRACTICE SORCERY
WITH DISC PROFILER
(WE BUILD PEOPLE)
It should be
noted that the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, promoted and implemented by the Assemblies
of God headquarters is almost completely based on the occultic teachings
of Carl Jung. Go to the MBTI website and see for yourself. Here is
their site: http://www.mbtitoday.org/model.html and www.myersbriggs.org/
Here are my two
letters to Gabriele Rienas. She is the wife of Dr. Werner
Rienas, Pastor of Life Church, an Assembly of God Church in Aloha,
Oregon. Website: http://www.lifeonweb.org. She is also a Professional
Counselor at Christian Counseling Centers of Oregon , Inc., website: http://www.cccow.org/
Gabriele Reinas
is also a regular columnist for the Assembly of God's Enrichment
Journal, where the following quote in my letter to her was
taken: http://enrichmentjournal.ag.org/200603/200603_070_Blahs_sb_QA.cfm
To date, Mrs.
Reinas has failed to respond to both of my letters of appeal.
The Enrichment
Journal is not the only place the AOG promotes temperament
divination. The AOG also promotes it as the heart of their We
Build People (I have confronted the leaders of this program as well and
typically none responded), which is the equivalent of Rick
Warren's SHAPE Questionnaire and program. There you will see
that the AOG also promotes Florence Littauer's Personality Profile which is
based on Greek Paganism. Here is the proof:
http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/Psychology/temper.htm
You
should require proof that the Assembly of God leaders are championing
these magic arts. So here it is:
http://webuildpeople.ag.org/wbp_library/0001_resources.cfm
June
23, 2006
Dear Gabriella Rienas,
I just happened to discover your article entitled: The Pastor’s Wife: Beating the Blahs of
Ministry posted on the Enrichment Journal in which you talk about Personality
Profiling where you state:
"There are various tools to help people discover their
strengths. Some churches or counseling centers offer personality profiles such
as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® or the
DISC® Profile. The Clifton StrengthsFinder™ a
resource for readers of the book, Now Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham and Donald O.
Clifton, is a user-friendly tool accessible on the Web. These kinds of
assessments often confirm what one already knows but may have been reluctant to
admit. In the end, what one learns from using these tools can be empowering and
motivating. When a pastor’s wife finds the freedom to be herself, she can be
firm, but kind, regarding the unrealistic expectations set by the
congregation."
As you no doubt know, the AOG uses a program called "We Build
People" which is AOG's version of Rick Warren's SHAPE Program.
So I would like to appeal you to consider the roots of Rick
Warren's Personality Profiling questionnaire (the "P" in his SHAPE)
Program. It is described in Chapter 11 of my book Who's Driving the Purpose Driven Church? available online at:
http://www.abrahamic-faith.com/James/personality-profiling.html
I am also taking the liberty of sending you a PDF file of my
second book on Warren which was just released and will be in print in a few
weeks entitled: Rick
Warren's Global Peace Plan vs. Scriptural Teachings on Peace, also published by Southwest Radio Church.
Kindest regards in Christ,
James Sundquist
Director
Rock Salt Publishing
From: RockSalt
Sent: Saturday, June 24, 2006 12:53 PM
Subject: AOG practices sorcery with DISC profiler
Dear Gabriella,
Here is more proof that AOG's We Build People program which uses DISC Personality Profiling is based on Carl
Jung and William Marsden, the inventor of Wonder Woman comic strip in
which he inverts the female bondage Carl Jung archetype with the male bondage
archetype:
http://www.crossroad.to/Quotes/management/DISC.htm
DISC Profile Tests Assessments
Courses Online
|
"Online DISC Profile & Inscape Publishing Distributor: ... behavioral and personality types based
on the work of William Moulton Marston and Carl Jung. ..." |
Disc Training - Learn discs study Discing
training classes Disc ...
|
"Coupled with the DiSC
Profile, this workshop
provides useful and immediate ... of human behavior founded on the psychological theory of
Carl G. Jung.... ..." |
|
"The DISC profile system has its roots in time-tested and
proven theories dating back to the Swiss Psychologist Dr. Carl
Jung and William
Marston Ph.D. from" |
|
|
And here DISC makes no bones about how they employ it in
astrology...also condemned in Scripture:
http://www.astroprofile.com/
As you can see, even DISC websites themselves concede that this
personality profiling was based on Carl Jung who in turn self-confessed he
got his personality temperament profiling by practicing
divination from a demonic spirit guide he named Philemon. So,
doesn't the AOG believe what the Bible says about divination, that it is an
abomination to the Lord?
But
this does not stop the AOG from using it and causing its members to thereby
practice sorcery. Rick Warren compounds his sin by requiring his members
to take his Jung-embedded SHAPE program.
As
Paul would say I am astonished....oh foolish American's and AOG leaders, who
hath bewitched you.
So
AOG Matriarch Dr. Opal Reddin was right in her letter of appeal to all AOG
Pastors on her deathbed.
I
am compelled to further remind you of my chapter on Warren's SHAPE Temperament
fraud at:
http://www.abrahamic-faith.com/James/personality-profiling.html
Sincerely
in Christ,
James
Sundquist
Director
Rock
Salt Publishing
* * * * * * * *
Another expose
on DISC Profiling is found at:
http://www.psychoheresy-aware.org/discarddisc13_5.html
Assemblies of
God also promote Ken Voge's Personality Profiling, so-called Christian version
of DISC. Imagine the Apostle
PAUL SAYING..."WELL I GO TO THE ICHTHUS ORACLE OF DELPHI!" For those
Christians who think DISC is useful or even harmless fun, I remind them of the
Scriptures that warn that the early Christians in the Book of Acts burned these
kinds of scrolls while Rick Warren, the AOG and the Southern Baptist new
President Frank Page conducts Purpose-Driven teachings at his own church and
promote them and many even make them binding for church membership and job
applications.
As to dream
interpretation, this is still another false teaching of Carl Jung being
promoted in the church and central to his personality and psychology
theories. In the Bible NO MAN ever
interpreted a dream. God revealed the
interpretation within Scripture itself.
The next time some Christian counselor or psychotherapist tells you they
can interpret your dreams, tell them what Nebuchadnezzar told the astrologers
and magicians who said they could interpret the king's dream if he would but
just tell them what the dream was. Nebuchadnezzar said, no you tell me what the
dream was first, then interpret it. Of
course, no one could do that! Later on,
Daniel did not even do it on his own, by his own wisdom (which was great) but
by God's revelation. And no man or
woman on earth is going to be able to interpret your dreams either. So they are useless! The next time a licensed or unlicensed dream
therapist tells you they can interpret your dream to help you with your problem
or behavior or future, ask them to first tell you what your dream was!
Finally, Ken
Voge's DISC uses four animals to describe 4 temperaments, just like Gary
Smalley has done in his personality profiling where you figure out what animal
you are. But animals and humans were
created after their own kind, so there can be no biblical justification for the
connection, particularly because animal behavior is governed by instinct while
human behavior is governed by conscience and the leading of the Holy
Spirit...unless you believe in evolution which Carl Jung (DISC roots) and most
of the major psychologist theorists believe(d) in. Evolutionists love
integrating animal behavior into their humanist psychology because they think
humans are animals...just more highly evolved.
And remember, in the Bible, animal-like behavior (i.e., "brute
beasts, unreasoning animals") was a sign of a reprobate mind...a
judgment that God turns people over to for refusing the knowledge of the truth
and what happened to King Nebuchadnezzar because of his pride. We don't
want to discover, model our behavior or modify it based on the personality of
an animal. There is no Scriptural foundation for this whatsoever....if
anything the Bible says the opposite. Jesus Christ did not die to save or
even sanctify animals because of their sins which is impossible for them to do
because of their nature. And God made animals lower than man.
Animals are used
as images in a positive sense in the Bible, for example Jesus is BOTH the Lion
of Judah and the Lamb of God...but these are used primarily as symbols or
images for prophecy and functions of Jesus Christ, and not to determine
personality or to perform behavior divination.
Most importantly, when the Bible uses animals as symbols it defines
their interpretation and limitation.
By assigning
meanings to animals for spiritual purposes is going beyond what is written in
Scripture. Voges uses the lion, otter,
bear, and dog. But Jesus Christ called
the Pharisees dogs to describe their character (not their personality). And why doesn't Voges use a dragon, a sloth,
and elephant, or a viper for temperament types? After all these are animals named in the Bible right? Four different animals were used in
Daniel's vision of empires (lion, bear, leopard, and fourth beast with great
iron teeth). So why doesn't Voges use
these animals...particularly since they are already listed as four animals in
the context of one of dreams? Or why
doesn't Voge employ a goat or sheep?
But this would present still
another problem. The same kind of animal is sometimes presented in the Bible
with opposite descriptions, depending on the context. Sheep are used in both a
positive and negative connotation.
Positive in that “my sheep hear my voice”, we are “the sheep of his
pasture”, and Jesus Christ separates the sheep from the goats when he judges
the nations. But sheep are also dumb
and “we all, like sheep, have gone astray.”
Why does Voge select a mammal in
his personality theory? Why not a bird
or fish? Why not an insect or trylobyte? And why a Golden Retriever for a dog? Why not a toy poodle or Saint Bernard or a
Pit Bull (a great protector which can be a ferocious attacker but also gentle,
kind and loyal to its master)? And why
a domesticated dog vs. a wild dog? And
why not have all four major delineations of traits be dogs? Why not four horses? After all, if you want to be biblical, the
Apocalypse is described as four horses in Revelation, and four horses are used
in Zechariah as well in describing judgments on the earth. Who decides what animal to pick and how to
measure the traits or calibrate them?
Conclusion: the DISC profiling and all temperament personality profiling
is all based on pagan superstition, evolution, magic arts, and divination. And it is as Paul would say “science,
falsely so called.” Even the Meyers
Briggs Temperament Profiler, also promoted by the AOG has a logo banner on
their site called the Philemon Foundation, so named after Carl Jung's demonic
spirit-guide. But this has not stopped
the leaders of the AOG or Ted Haggard, President of National Association of
Evangelicals, whose New Life Church is also a client of DISC. Proof:
http://www.discinsights.com/cyber/scripts/clients.asp
Here is more
proof that Assembly of God leaders and pastors promote DISC:
webuildpeople.ag.org/wbp_library/
9408_differences_in_people.cfm
For more
proof of Rick Warren's forbidden practice of sorcery and so-called secrets,
hear Pastor Bob DeWaay's Part 10 in his radio series on Rick Warren located
: http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/Critical_Issues_Commentary/archives.asp
AOG PASTOR TOMMY
BARNETT PROMOTES FALSE TEACHER KEN BLANCHARD
Ken Blanchard—the featured speaker at First Assembly of
God Church in Phoenix on November 27, 2005. I listened
to
this sermon on compact disc. I was so shocked and
dismayed
at the list of false teachers he embraced in this
speech, I was
compelled to write Tommy Barnett, their senior pastor,
who
had invited him. To date he has not responded to any
of my
e-mails or follow-up inquiries. Here are some excerpts
from
that letter:
December 9, 2005
Dear Pastor Tommy Barnett,
I just finished hearing the CD of Ken Blanchard
speaking
at your church recently.
I can only hope you are simply not aware of Ken
Blanchard’s
teachings and endorsements, including many he touted
in his
sermon to your congregation.
The most startling of all was his glowing view of
Nelson
Mandela. Are you aware that Mandela is a devout
Marxist?
Here is a quote from Mandela . . . can you possibly
think as
Christian that Blanchard would be his devotee?
“When you don’t feel good about yourself, it is hard
to feel
good about anything or anyone else. . . . The only way
to get
out of this vicious cycle is to begin to believe in
ourselves. . . .
www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/pdym.htm
for comprehensive list of Ken
Blanchard’s New Age endorsements
For complete expose see
www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~emcd/index5.htm
www.crossroad.to/Quotes/management/blanchard.htm
You are a child of God. . . . We are all meant to
shine as children
do. We are born to manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It’s
not just in some of us it’s in everyone. . . .
“Don’t wait therefore for someone to tell you how
wonderful
you are. Just simply believe it, know it! Look deep within
yourself. As we get to know and affirm ourselves for who we
are, we become aware of the divinity that we share. What better place
to find God than within ourselves.”188
I find it equally astonishing that you or at least one
wise
among your congregation would not stand up and
challenge
Ken Blanchard’s glowing endorsement of Norman Vincent
Peale, a mentor to Robert Schuller, whose heresies are
well known.
Blanchard further endorses, in his sermon to your
congregation, Rick Warren (SHAPE), Bill Hybels, and
Zig
Ziglar, all three of whom promote occultist Carl
Jung’s Temperament
Divination and Personality Profiling. I proved that
Warren is a false teacher in my last e-mail to you.
Blanchard
also promotes Jung via DISC Profiling, invented by
Wonder
Woman comic strip author William Moulton Marsden, who
used Jung archetypes to create a female heroine who
put men
in bondage. Blanchard also spoke glowingly of John
Ortberg, who
signed a letter190 to President Bush appealing to him
to give
some of the land of Israel to the Palestinians,
bringing a curse
www.takeheed.net/news17.htm
www.crossroad.to/articles2/05/text/peace-un-2.htm
Support for a Palestinian state within the present
borders of Israel and at the expense of Israel is also a common view within the
Church Growth movement, as evidenced by a July 23, 2002, letter to President
Bush containing the following statement signed by John Ortberg: “We commend
your stated support for a Palestinian state with 1967 borders, and encourage
you to move boldly forward so that the legitimate aspirations of the
Palestinian people for their own state may be realized.”Source:
www.northpark.edu/centers/middle/mideast.letter_to_bush.htm
upon himself from God to anyone who tampers with
Israel’s
God-given boundaries. (God has married [“Beulah”] that
land
to Israel . . . no one else has a right to divide it
up . . . read Psalm
83 if you doubt what God will do to those who dare to
carve
up the land of Israel.) Blanchard also commends Bob
Buford,
whose account and defense of Mother Teresa (95%) [percentage
represents Buford’s idea that she only need 5% to
close the
gap to 100% between her and the Lord], who saw no
reason
to convert a Buddhist, is beyond the pale.
I remain shocked and saddened that you would not know
about at least some of these false teachers that
Blanchard promotes
and endorses. I was compelled to bring this all to the
attention of the listeners of Sonlife Radio Network
(72 stations),
and will continue to do so in the upcoming national
radio interviews
I will be doing in 2006 exposing Rick Warren’s global
PEACE plan vs. Scripture.
I hope and pray that you take heed to my words and
those
of Dr. Opal Reddin in her October 27, 2005, open
letter of appeal
and warning to all Assembly of God churches, which she
wrote on her deathbed, one month before she was
promoted
to Glory. [Dr. Reddin was a matriarch in the
Assemblies of God
denomination]. I have spent thousands of hours
researching
these men’s teachings. I also hope that you go before
your own
congregation and repent for having brought Ken
Blanchard to
speak to and mingle with your flock.
Kindest regards in Christ,
James Sundquist
Director
Rock Salt Publishing
James Sundquist, Rick Warren's Global Peace Plan vs. Scripture, pp 106-108, Bible
Belt Publishing, 2006.
Instead of
personally attacking me (without specific charges, as even the pagan Festus
said he needed before he could pass judgment on the Apostle Paul), as well as
Dr. Opal Reddin (maligning a widow vs. ministering to her), Philip Powell,
former AOG Superintendent of Australia, turning a deaf ear to your fellow
saints plight and simply deleting the email as asking to be removed from the
mailing, or remaining silent; I
encourage all Assembly of God pastors to reclaim your denomination. But if you are not able to, you may be able
to at least reclaim your own church from the authority and teachings of Rick
Warren and Thomas Trask. You should
champion the removal of Tom Trask and replace him with a God-fearing man who
exhibits the fruit of the spirit known as self-control vs. out-of-control which
he exhibited in his tantrums towards Ray Barnett and Jim Brown, reporter for
American Family Radio, and for humiliating Dr. Opal Reddin before the General
Assembly. There are many God-fearing pastors
and brethren, teachers, and leaders among you who never were contaminated by
this spiritual aids plague, such as the late Dr. Opal Reddin. But for those of you have have participated
in his teachings and programs unknowingly, I hope and pray that you will now
know that you will be fully equipped to reject Warren's teachings and publicly
mark him as well as Thomas Trask, one of Warren's allies and partners, for the
safety of your own flock, but also in solidarity with your fellow persecuted
saints who have been left dismembered in the wake of the propeller of Rick
Warren's Purpose Driven ship and the AOG's Transformation Vision.
But I exhort you to go further and publicly rebuking them and repenting
for having formed these alliances in the first place in accordance with this
Scriptures:
“If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive
him not into [your] house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him
God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.”
II John 2:10-11
"And he [Jesus] said unto them, Ye are they which justify
yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly
esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God." - Luke 16:15
And this final
exhortation from the Apostle Paul:
“My speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of
human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith
should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” (1 Corinthians
2:4-5)
Sincerely in
Christ,
James Sundquist
Director
Rock Salt
Publishing
cc:
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