Your Virus Protection & Firewall for Purpose Driven Life Theology

& another title ... False Teachings, False Teachers, and Contradictions in Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Life Book and Program - by James Sundquist

Rick Warren's theology and book have infiltrated almost every Christian denomination, including private label versions or disguises such as “We Build People.” Because of this, I believe it is more imperative than ever to test the spirits of his teachings to see if they be of God.  Let me first say that it is absolutely critical to present that facts of Rick Warren's teachings by using his exact quotes and compare them to Scripture, as the Lord considers it an abomination to bear false witness against a brother in Christ.  I also run my articles by several fellow Biblical discernment scholars, as iron sharpens iron, to help ensure the integrity of this document.

EVERY Christian should be a heretic hunter because heretic literally means dividing or depart from sound doctrine.  So to be a good Berean as the Apostle Paul commended the Berean Church for, we must diligently search the Scriptures daily to see if any teaching is Scriptural.  We must all be vigilant to test every spirit to see if it be of God.  And those in eldership position are all the more required to guard the flock against false teaching.  And Jesus Christ himself warned us to not be deceived. And how we would we even know deception without comparing a teaching to Scripture?  And the Lord has brought to the Church another Gift of the Holy Spirit which is called: “Discerner of Spirits”.

One of the most precious doctrines and resources of Christianity is TRUTH!  If we compromise truth, we will have lost the savor in our salt and will eventually and rightfully be trodden under foot.

“Jesus was empowered by 40 days in the wilderness” (in chapter one of his book) is the most egregious.  Jesus was not empowered for 40 days in the wilderness, he was tempted.  He was all powerful already.  If anything, at least in the flesh, he was weakened, then strengthened only at the very end of the 40 days with food brought to him by angels.  There is no process of 40 days required to get Jesus “empowered!”  At any point during even Christ's earthly ministry he had the power to even call down a battalion of angels.

On Page 28; Rick Warren states that after killing Abel, Cain wandered without a purpose the rest of his life.  This is simply not true, as God marked him for protection.  He then built a city...does that sound like someone without a purpose?

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On Page 88; Rick Warren quotes Brother Lawrence and advises us to “Practice His Presence”.  What Rick Warren does not tell you is that Brother Lawrence was a lay Carmelite Order Roman Catholic which was one of the first Orders to elevate Mary to a status beyond what is written in the Bible.  And there is nothing in Scripture to support the idea of “practicing His presence.”  Brother Lawrence is not the only Catholic Mystic that Rick Warren endorses, or author he endorses who also promote mysticism and the Desert Fathers. 

On Page 90; Rick Warren states: “Meditation is focused thinking,” while he simultaneously endorses Richard Foster via his pastors.com resources in his Appendix 2 Resources (Page 324).  Here is how Richard Foster defines meditation: Richard Foster in his book, Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home, speaks of the practice of "breath prayer," in which a Christian-sounding word or phrase is repeated over and over again like a mantra.  Foster wrote that "Christian meditation is an attempt to empty the mind in order to fill it" (Ray Yungen, Time of Departing, Lighthouse Trails Publishing, 2002, pg. 72).  This is the very opposite of Warren's definition of meditation.  For a complete expose on Richard Foster's teaching that Rick Warren promotes, please read the following documentary: Spiritual Formation, Richard Foster, and Renovare - Renovare Analyzed for Biblical Soundness and Found Wanting - http://www.cephas-library.com/purposedriven/renovare_errors_in_renovare_analysed_and_discussed_part_1_of_2.html