If you want to see what the modern denial of Jesus Christ looks like,
I encourage you to watch this video clip.
http://ted.com/tedtalks/tedtalksplayer.cfm?key=r_warren&flashEnabled=1
This
clip features megapastor Rick Warren as he addresses the attendees
of the TED Conference in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
/>
''After four days, you gain an understanding of how your own work fits into the larger web of knowledge and you get to connect with extraordinary individuals who are helping in creating a better future for all of us.''
As a Christian pastor, what did Rick Warren have to say to this group of people?..."
~
Ingrid Schlueter for Christian Worldview Network ~
When a Megapastor
Denies Christ
by Ingrid Schlueter As a writer for Christian
Worldview Network, I am committed to speaking the truth in love.
More than anything else, I love the truth of God's Word and the Church
for which Christ died. Because of that love,
I cannot remain silent when I see the subtle entry of error taking place
within evangelicalism. I believe that
if the martyrs in other parts of the world are having to die for their
faith, the least I can do in Again and again
today, we are seeing evangelical leaders deny Christ. According
to the dictionary's definition of the term, to deny is not just an outright
rejection of something or someone. To deny is also to withhold, to
refuse access to or give out information, or to refuse to recognize or
acknowledge. It is critical that we understand what the
denial of Christ looks like. It is everywhere these days.
If you want to
see what the modern denial of Jesus Christ looks like, I encourage you
to watch this video
clip. This clip features megapastor
Rick Warren as he addresses the attendees of the TED Conference
in ''After four days,
you gain an understanding of how your own work fits into the larger web
of knowledge and you get to connect with extraordinary individuals who
are helping in creating a better future for all of us.'' As a Christian pastor, what did Rick Warren
have to say to this group of people? He spoke for a little
over 20 minutes. He said everyone had a purpose and that God wanted
everyone to use their gifts and talents. He talked about his crisis
in purpose when he made "tons and tons of money" with his famous book.
He told about how he and his wife use a reverse tithe and how they started
foundations to help solve the world's problems. He quickly established
that he was a "pluralist". He said that everybody is betting their
life on "something". The implication was that you believe in this,
I believe in that. It's all good. Despite his
repeated references to "God",Rick
Warren never told this group of unbelievers who God was. He
told the crowd that meaning in life is found through service and giving
of ourselves. He never told them that we don't find salvation
through service, but rather through a right relationship with our Creator,
through His Son Jesus Christ alone. He talked of God smiling when we
use our gifts. He never talked of the perilous state of our souls
unless we repent and believe the Gospel. He gave these
conference attendees a message of works righteousness--salvation through
serving. This man with the label of Christian pastor seems to
have ignored a very basic Bible verse, Titus
3:5:
Not by works of righteousness
which we have done,
but according to his mercy
he saved us,
by the washing of regeneration,
and renewing of the Holy Ghost; If any man had the
right to boast in his service of Christ, it would have been the Apostle
Paul. Yet even he said this in I Timothy
1:15:
Here is a trustworthy saying
that deserves full acceptance:
Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners--of whom I am the worst. Rick Warren did not
follow in the train of the Apostles who preached Christ fearlessly and
without apology, as the great Apostle described in I
Corinthians 1:22-24:
For Jews demand signs and
Greeks seek wisdom,
but we preach Christ
crucified,
a stumbling block to Jews
and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called,
both Jews and Greeks,
Christ
the power of God and the wisdom of God. (Emphasis added.) Could any true
minister of the Gospel be handed such an opportunity to bear witness to
Jesus Christ and instead talk about purpose and meaning and just leave
it there? Rick Warren denied Christ
because he was ashamed to tell these people what the Gospel really says.
These haunting words
of Jesus should shake all of us who are too embarrassed to speak forth
what God has done for us through His Son.
So everyone who acknowledges
me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven,
but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who
is in heaven. Matthew 10:32-33 So
if I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition that God made
us and has a plan for us, but avoid that single point that God made
us holy but that we sinned and are in rebellion to God in our natural state,
we are not confessing Christ, however boldly we may claim to profess
Christ. I have heard repeated claims that some of evangelicalism's
biggest superstars are propagating the "Gospel".
It
is clear that there is little understanding today as to what the Gospel
actually is. It is not about "opening your life to God" or "accepting
his purposes for your life." It is to acknowledge that
we as individuals have sinned and that we deserve the wrath and curse of
God. It is to turn from our sin and to look to Christ alone and believe
that He took that wrath of God on Himself to satisfy the just demands of
God the Father on our behalf. It is to believe that He rose again in triumph
over sin, death and hell and sits at the right hand of God the Father interceding
for us. There is no Gospel outside of an
articulation of God's holy hatred for sin. There is no good news
without the bad news first. The true amazing meaning of
God's sovereign grace will never be understood until our desperately hopeless
state without Him is grasped.
If Rick Warren loved
those souls to which he spoke, if he had a view of hell as described by
Scripture, where these lost souls will forever suffer if they reject the
Son of God, if he truly loved that Savior who hung bleeding and naked on
an old rugged cross to pay for our sins, how could he fail to share
that message? Do not elite movers and shakers also need Jesus
Christ? Did not this crowd need to hear more
than a works righteousness message? God save us from this kind of
spiritual leadership. May we get our eyes off these evangelical
celebrities who are denying Christ and put our eyes on the Lord alone.
He is the one who gave that Great Commission. He is the one who has
already declared our purpose here in His eternal Word. Let the compromise
around us spur us on to lift ever higher the cross of Christ and without
shame, proclaim His saving power.
I am ready to preach the gospel
to you that are at For I am not ashamed of the
gospel of Christ:
for it is the power of God
unto salvation to every one that believeth;
to the Jew first, and also
to the Greek.
For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith:
as it is written, The just
shall live by faith. --Romans 1:15-17 KJV
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"
/>