Rick Warren: Jesus Would Not Have Approved 

I used to think that only journalists were lazy and relied on the articles of others, but I’ve since learned that bloggers are lazy too. Both tend to just repeat what others have said -- without checking the accuracy -- instead of doing their own original research. 

There were a number of popular errors in your article, I ask you to correct.

He's just another pastor who treats Christianity like big business.

Actually, I teach pastors that the church is NOT a business. Here are direct quotes from Purpose Driven Church about what I really believe:
“The church is a Body, not a business! It is an organism, not an organization. We must avoid the error that all it takes to grow a church is organization, management, and marketing.  The church is not a business!  I’ve talked to some pastors who act as if the church is merely a human enterprise with few prayers thrown in for good measure.  After listening to them, I’ve wondered, “Where is the Holy Spirit in all of this?”

Unfortunately, many churches can be explained away in terms of a standard Sunday school, an efficient organization, and a balanced budget. Nothing supernatural ever happens there and few lives are genuinely changed.

All of our plans, programs, and procedures are worthless without God’s anointing. Psalm 127  says: “Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain.” We must never forget whose church it is.  Jesus said, “I will build MY church” (Matt. 16:18, italics added).
While it is fine for a business to be market-driven (give the customer whatever he wants), the church has a higher calling! 

Enter the office of Rick Warren and you'll see an interesting mantra alongside his requisite Bible trappings. It doesn't advocate forgiveness or claim Moses as its author, yet it speaks to the very heart of what Warren's sprawling evangelical empire is about:  What is our business? Who is our customer? What does the customer consider value?

This falsehood has been repeated in article several times but it is  a lie. I’ve never had such a statement in my office.  It was a poster in  Bill Hybel’s office, not mine. People constantly confuse our churches.

Warren said in a 2005 interview with Fortune Magazine (Drucker passed away later that year). "He honed into me hundreds of one-liners and taught me that growth always comes from the outside from people who are not now using your product, or listening to your message, or using your services."
   
Again, this is a quote from someone else, not me. The Fortune article had almost everything wrong and when I tried to get the editors to correct  the errors, they refused. The writer apologized to me personally, saying that the editors disliked pastors.. I have never made such a quote
   
Even the methods used to sell the book to the great unwashed formed the basis of "PyroMarketing," a book that so thoroughly deconstructs Warren's meteoric rise on the bestseller's list that Warren pressured the publisher "to censor all references to his book, because he was concerned that it would make people think his phenomenal success was driven primarily by network marketing techniques."
   
The first reporter got this wrong in the first article, and not a single reporter since has bothered to inquire if Stielstra’s claims were accurate. Truth: The man who claimed that he “created” the success of The Purpose Driven Life through his so-called “pyromarketing” technique actually had nothing- not a single thing - to do with the creation of either 40 days of purpose for churches or the distribution of my book.  It was simply word-of-mouth, not any advertising, but he was trying to make a name for himself. Long after this guy was let go at Zondervan, PDL is still selling nearly a million copies a month around the world simply because lives are genuinely changed and those people want to buy the book for others.   I’m writing this from the Philippines where the national police academy has used it in training for over 10,000 policemen.

The answer to that lies in Left Behind: Eternal Forces, a ridiculous real-time. Until Jonathan Hutson of Talk to Action exposed the game's violent theocratic storyline, Warren's close advisor and Purpose Driven cohort Mark Carver served on the board of the company developing the game. Hutson's research led to Carver resigning from the board and a distancing of Purpose Driven from LBH, and he official response to the situation from Purpose Driven stands at: "Rick Warren, Saddleback Church, and Purpose Driven Ministries have no connection to the development of the 'Left Behind: Eternal Forces' video game. We have not endorsed the game and have no plans to promote it... “But how does an arrangement like that get started without Warren's approval?
   
Truth: I had never heard of “Left Behind Eternal Forces” game until someone accused me of being associated with it on the internet!  I had to call and ask what it was. Mark Carver is not my “close advisor, but  one of over 500 staff members. I couldn’t possible know what each of them says or does for their friends.   Come on Matt, surely you recognize that a lot of people must continually try to connect whatever their doing to the  “purpose driven” phrase to imply endorsement, We fight it constantly

(In fairness to Rick Warren, no other major televangelist has come out against the game, either).
   
I am not a televangelist.  I have never preached a service on either television or radio. I am a local church pastor.

But while Rick Warren may talk about his network of 200,000 pastors or how he's basically taken over the government of Rwanda with his purpose-driven agenda, he knows it's bad business to fully reject the video game.
   
I DID fully denounce and reject the game when I heard about it!  And you must be joking about “taken over the government of Rwanda?”

So where does Jesus factors into Purpose Driven Life? I don't know personally. I haven't read it, nor will I.    This is obvious from your statements. I dare you to read it and find out.

Rick Warren 

Lynyrd Skynyrd

Ms. Cronett, in her article about Lynerd Skynerd, erroneously takes on the role of apologist for the beloved band.  Lynerd Skynerd needs no one to explain their actions. Because of their Southern roots, it was only natural that the band embrace the primary symbol of the South--the Confederate flag.

As for its neglect by mainstream musicians and the delay by the record industry to honor the band, I know the band would rather remain true to their roots and fan base than receive any awards from self-righteous non-Southerners.

The people of the South know what the flag means, and it has never meant racism to the majority of them.  It is a reminder of their brave soldier-ancestors who gave their all on many bloody battlefields and the land for which they fought.

The flag may be a "black cloud" to northern sycophants, race baitors, and liberals, but it meant--and still means-- "home and family" to Lynerd Skynerd and to most Southerners.  Sorry, Ms. Cornett, but no apologists are needed when explain Lynerd Skynerd\'s motives.  Those who love the band do so regardless!Sincerely,

Arnold 

***

I enjoyed your analysis of Skynyrd yet wonder if you have taken the time to buy any of the post crash Skynyrd CD's. You say their messages were meaningful in the songs written by Ronnie to all the fans, the newer songs also include some very strong opinions on things happening in the world. Might I suggest you LISTEN to the newest CD "Vicious Cycle", tracks like "Lucky Man", Hell or Heaven", "The Way", even "Red, White & Blue" all have a powerful meaning in the lyrics, Check out "Last Rebel" the song "Can't take that Away" - put away the pledge of alligence, Take the cross off of the hill, speaks volumes with such issues of today and what is being taken away from school's and communities. "Love Don't Come Easy", "Kiss Your Freedom Goodbye", "One Thing", " Best Things In Life". Twenty's -  Edge of Forever's "Tomorrow's Goodbye", which warns we must take care of the evironment and the world around us so we leave our children's children the pleasures & beauty of the world we enjoy today.
Granted they play the old classics in concerts simply because it is the music most known to many because of lack of airplay of the newer stuff, but due to today's radio formats, their newer music just doen't fit the generes that would allow the music the exposure the band of the 70's got. It is unfair to judge their success based on radio play or how well the music is known from the newer versions of the Skynyrd line ups, because they simply have not had the avenues to get the music out on the airwaves that the old band had. The statistics also show the music has done better or just as good on the charts as well. But for a Classic Rock station they want to play only "Classic Rock" or today's "Modern Rock", Pop stattions won't play it, easy listening stations say it is too hard rock, and up until recently it cetrainately wasn't country.
 
I agree we all are entitled to our opinions, and yours is truly one I respect, but to say the band today is any less compared to the old band is just that your opinion!
Many will disagree with you, and invite you to a debate. I am one who disagrees with you, I never saw the band of the 70's, was only 15 when the plane crashed, this is the Lynyrd Skynyrd I have grew up with, and they are more than just a flag waving joke to me and many others, they are the real thing!
Have a great Day!

Kathy 

***

as a southerner who fiercely defends and trumpets the south every chance i get, i found the piece on lynrd skynrd to be refreshingly intelligent, critically sound and containing a whole lotta heart. sure, there's the battle flag vs. confederate flag discrepency, but that does not come to bear in the thrust of her piece -- showing why the flag was adopted, in spite of whether people saw it as a shroud, and revealing their true colors behind it.
 
the fact that southerners are writing in to shame her is embarrassing. someone says "confederate flag," and the self-described rebels start to bristle because, in their self-perpetuating inferiority complex, they only sense attack. they haven't allowed history to teach them anything else.
 
thanks,

alan 

***

You said, "Lynyrd Skynyrd and Ronnie Van Zant wrote more great songs than there is room to go into here.  The sad part is, they will never get the respect they deserve; they will never escape the shadow of the Confederate flag. "  NO!  Because they were busy basking in the light of the flag!  . . . as they should.
 
You called that fly the "Stars and Bars."  The Confederate Battle Flag (or Naval Jack) that he identifies with is not the "Stars and Bars."  It is the "Southern Cross" and is sometimes called the "St. Andrews Cross."
 
Tim D. Manning, M.Div.
Executive Director
North Carolina Heritage Foundation

It's Time to Stand Against Israel 

Wonderful artricle , if ever  I meet the first thing I will do is kneel down and kiss your feet , cannot help my tears running as I am a Palestinian .

Zina

***

Thorough and outstanding analysis.

I applaud you for taking a stand.

Anonymous

***

I would bet you still believe that the Israeli Defense Forces murdered hundreds of innocents in Jenin too . . .
 
This article should be in line for the Joseph Goebbels Big Lie award – or the Yassir Arafat Make Up A Good Lie award
 
Other than that – thank goodness you didn’t waste trees by printing this kind of garbage
 
Greg

***

Why dont the arabs just give the KIDNAPED soldiers back?

John

***

The reason Israel gets away with murder, genocide, financial thefts is because of its fanatic propagandists and funders, mostly in the United States and some in Canada and Europe.

Alex