Daily Devotional for Tuesday August 19, 2008

Pastor Rick Warren Plays Softball with Senators Obama and McCain

(1 Corinthians 1:21)

"For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe." (1Corinthians 1:21)

Pastor Rick Warren plays softball with Senators Obama and McCain this past Saturday night at his ""Civil Forum on Leadership and Compassion." The event was widely promoted as a Warren/Saddleback event, however it was originated and co-sponsored by the liberal social justice group Faith in Public Life, whose board president is Meg Riley, a Unitarian Universalism minister who previously ran the denomination's homosexual advocacy office. The group's board members include other theological liberals, among them a pro-abortion Muslim leader and a Jewish rabbi, all who were active in helping Warren shape his questions.

Most disappointing was that Warren, who says his goal is to win souls to Jesus Christ, never once stated that the ONLY way to be saved is through faith in Jesus Christ, despite having this forum televised around the world on several cable news networks to millions of souls. How could anyone who is interested in saving souls pass up such an opportunity? Of course, we see it all the time with high profile Christians like Warren, Osteen, Jakes, and others, who go into the secular media and refuse to use such a great opportunity to tell people how they can be saved. I guess telling people the truth about dying and going to hell isn't good for their business model.

As I predicted, Warren held neither candidate accountable for their personal faith beliefs, the supposed reason for this circus. Many people thought he did an outstanding job, which only goes to show how low our expectations are of a man who had the opportunity to bring out each of these men's true beliefs. Of course, neither Obama nor McCain would have agreed to such a high profile meeting if they thought they would have to answer real questions. Their campaigns were 100% confident that Warren would play his role and allow them to use this opportunity to pursue their personal political agendas without being pressed on the issues this was supposed to be about. All throughout the program I kept thinking of the verse that a friend of the world is an enemy of God, and that Warren was clearly a friend of the world.

Of course, Warren asked the obligatory questions on abortion and gay marriage. It seemed like he was very uncomfortable dealing with both of those issues and rather than asking telling follow-up questions, he quickly moved on to other questions. After he allowed Obama to give his standard responses that he hates abortion and wants to limit the number of abortions, he refused to ask the obvious question, "How can anyone claim to be a Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ, and support the slaughter of innocent babies?" If Senator Obama wants to reduce the number of abortions, how about STOP SUPPORTING THIS PRACTICE OF LEGALIZED INFANTICIDE! This is not a complicated issue as Obama claims, you either are for life or you are not. He is clearly not regardless how he tries to justify his actions.

As for Senator McCain, since he does have a pro-life voting record, Warren should have pressed him on a commitment to not only work to overturn Roe vs. Wade, but to immediately sign an Executive Order stopping all federal funds from going to Planned Parenthood. McCain is believed by many Christians to be not willing to champion the key spiritual issues that plague our nation, and Warren never even attempted to try and seek out how committed he would be on these critical issues. Like Obama, McCain claims to be a Christian. While he has not made his personal faith an issue in his campaign as Obama has, Warren simply took him at face value without asking a couple pointed questions to see if indeed McCain had ever made a personal commitment of his heart and life by faith to Christ and was truly saved.

In the end we learned NOTHING new about either of these men and their faith. Warren refused to use the opportunity to share with the millions watching that there is only one Truth, the Bible, and only one way to be saved, faith in Jesus Christ. I guess that would be asking too much from a man who envisions himself as the nation's pastor. His fame of course didn't come from saving souls or taking a stand for the Truth of the Word. He is actually well known for compromising both to achieve what he calls "the greater good." His fame comes from being the author of "The Purpose Driven Life," a book that has sold over 20 million copies, largely due to the fact that tens of thousands of churches used it as a study instead of the Bible and congregations were expected to buy the book to follow along. Pretty clever marketing strategy.

The reality is, when studying the PDL, people are expected to leave their Bibles home and rely on the passages Warren gives you. A closer check shows those passages come from numerous versions of the Bible, each one carefully picked to give the passage the intended meaning, even though it may be used out of context. The PDL has caused many churches to split, while bringing a watered down mentality into those who have followed Warren's guidance. It is understanding the whole PDL mentality that helps to explain why the event last Saturday night became what it was, two men using the opportunity to further their political careers and one man using the opportunity to further his global agenda.

Rick Warren has proven that he has no problem getting in bed with people who follow the false religions, cults, and New Age beliefs in order to advance his global social agenda. While always playing humble and downplaying money, make no mistake about it, Warren's global PEACE plan is about money and lots of it. He recently bragged about helping to secure a $300 million deal. Warren is about being next to people of great wealth and power regardless their personal faith beliefs. It is about achieving power, worldwide power. The spiritual freefall this nation is in is due to Christian leaders like Warren who are more interested in their plan rather than God's plan, in their words rather than God's Word, and in amassing warn bodies rather than saving souls.

I love you and care about you so much. What is the message for you today? Simply this. DON'T COMPROMISE THE TRUTH OF THE BIBLE OR THE PREACHING OF THE GOSPEL! There are no truer words or greater message. Men can come up with clever ways to "do church," but unless it is based on the Truth of the Scriptures and the Gospel of Jesus Christ, it is a meaningless exercise no matter how successful it may seem from a worldly perspective. Several things are for certain from Saturday night's event at Saddleback. Obama is not a Christian despite his claims. It is still unknown if McCain is even saved. It is clear that NEITHER man will be a friend of God if elected as President. Rick Warren is the leading figure in the nation of this dangerous group I have warned you about called the religious left.

The reason this nation is spiritually bankrupt is because the Truth of the Bible has been compromised and the Gospel watered down. High profile Christian leaders have become that because they are wise businessmen, smart marketeers, and clever at manipulating the masses, NOT because they had a passion for saving souls and leading this nation back to God and Biblical values. But fear not, there are many faithful pastors, many men and women who love the Lord who will not compromise the Truth and are part of this last days remnant.

These people are not part of the elite who rub shoulders with the powerful and wealthy, but simple men and women of God whose only desire is to serve Him and see the lost won to Jesus Christ. That is the whole reason the Jonah Project was started last month, to enable this remnant, this last days group of true Believers to rise up and be heard as we take God's Truth to the nation and the hope and love of Jesus Christ to the lost and hurting!

Jonah Project website: www.liveprayer.com/jonah

In His love and service, Your friend and brother in Christ, Bill Keller