Entry #10 in The New Age Series

Our next focus will be on “The Purpose Driven Life,” by Rick Warren. I told you the names were going to be more familiar as we go along! This book was wildly popular in the early 2000s. It seems everywhere you went someone was reading it. I did, and as I read it, there were times when I knew something wasn’t quite right, but I just couldn’t put my finger on it. I kept reading though, just sure I was going to get something out of it. I really didn’t except for the very first sentence in the very first chapter: “It’s not about you.” Of course, that sounded great because the Christian life is about serving God and helping others, right? That was fine except it seems a good portion of the rest of the book is all about…you.

One thing I noticed was that Rick used so many, many versions of the Bible. I thought that was odd but I just thought that he was trying to please everyone by hoping to cite their favorite version. I didn’t recognize some of the versions, especially the New Century Version. I later discovered that it has New Age tendencies as it uses the “God is in everyone and everything” concept which we’ve already established is not true. God is in every Christian but not in every person and everything. The New Age people believe that God is in everyone and everything and that makes everyone and everything connected…you know, “one with the universe.” Actually you may remember that they think everyone and everything is God. According to the Bible, this is not true.

Another thing that is noticeable is that “The Message” seems to be among his favorite versions, if not his absolute favorite, as he quotes it many times in his book. We can see where that’s a problem as we’ve already seen the fallacy in believing it to be a true Bible. Or even true to the Bible.

Over the years I have heard discussions about “The Purpose Driven Life,” and how others were turned off by it or couldn’t really get into it, or that it even angered some folks. I understand. As it turns out, it seems that Rick Warren was close with Robert Schuller of Crystal Cathedral fame whom we studied several days ago. I understand that Rick’s wife, Kay, even spoke at a Schuller conference several years ago. You may say, “What’s wrong with that?” Well, when I go to a conference or other meeting, I expect like-minded people to be on the stage. Like-minded with me. I suspect that the Warrens and Schullers were like-minded with each other.

My friend Warren B. Smith was deeply into the New Age for years but was radically saved by Jesus Christ in the 1980s. He came across “The Purpose Driven Life” when it was popular and read it. He says that he immediately began seeing some of his old New Age teachings being brought forth by Rick Warren. Mr. Smith now devotes his life to speaking on the dangers of the New Age and its harmful effect on people. After he read “The Purpose Driven Life,” he wrote “Deceived on Purpose,” to help people understand that Rick Warren’s book was not entirely Christian but loaded with New Age implications. There is a lot of information about Rick Warren in Mr. Smith’s book. It and his other books are available at amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/Deceived-Purpose-Implications-Purpose-Driven-Church/dp/0976349205/ref=sr_1_8?s=beauty&ie=UTF8&qid=1442438406&sr=8-8&keywords=warren+b+smith

In “The Purpose Driven Life,” Rick quoted a number of notable people, such as:

Bertrand Russell, an atheist; Albert Einstein, agnostic; Anais Nin, a female erotic writer; Madame Guyon, a French mystic who said that God is in all things; Dr. Bernie Siegel, a New Age leader with a spirit guide named George; and Aldous Huxley, occultist and New Ager. I’ll just let you draw your own conclusions from that.

Stay tuned!smile emoticon

Entry #5 in the New Age Series

Here's a New Age leader I'm sure most of you have heard of...Robert Schuller. Although he died last year, he was on TV for years. As you were channel surfing, you probably saw him in his powder blue robe preaching in his Crystal Cathedral, a massive all-glass structure in Garden Grove, CA. Over the years, he invited various celebrities to join him at his pulpit. He wrote several books, one of which is, "If You Can Dream It, You Can Do It." Let's look at a few quotes from it.

"I characterize the basic needs of people as follows: food, clothing, and shelter; security; family and friends; to understand and be appreciated; to help others, to find God." Notice God's ranking in this list! Odd for a preacher, don't you think?

Here's another one: "Treat yourself right. Take care of yourself and others will start treating you better. You deserve the best." Another selfish, self-esteem, New Age statement. Does it agree with the Bible?  Doesn’t the Bible say that we’re supposed to put others first?

The last one I have for you is: "I believe! I believe! I believe! Even if the words don't come naturally, force yourself to repeat them morning, noon and night. Force them into your subconscious. These words will give you the power to face life again. I guarantee it!" Believe what? In yourself, I suppose. And Who is our power to face life? The Holy Spirit, not some mantra we're supposed to force ourselves to repeat in order to feel good. This is just a fraction of what Schuller is responsible for feeding innocents. You can Google him and find much more.

So far we've discussed two New Age leaders who have had much unholy influence over the years on untold numbers of people. These were mild. It heats up a bit. Join me in a couple of days for discussion on another. I'll leave you to  your thoughts on today's post and also give you time to Google Robert Schuller.  Stay tuned!