Daily Devotional for Tuesday December 23, 2008

Rick Warren and President-elect Obama Use Each Other for Credibility

(Matthew 14:1-12)

Rick Warren and President-elect Obama use each other for credibility. Let me say up front, the ONLY reason Pastor Rick Warren, Senior Pastor of Saddleback Church in suburban Los Angeles and the author of the Purpose Driven Life, should deliver the invocation at Barack Hussein Obama's inaugural is to pray for the following: Obama's salvation, that this nation will stop slaughtering innocent babies, that ALL states will quit perverting God's Holy Institution of Marriage by allowing same-sex couples to wed, and that this nation will turn from its sins and back to the God of the Bible and faith in Jesus Christ.

Now let's deal with reality. I guarantee you that Warren will pray for NONE of those things. Do you think for a second that President-elect Obama would invite him to do the invocation if he was going to pray for the REAL needs of Obama and this nation? Warren became famous for selling his "Purpose Driven" marketing strategy designed to fill pews with warn bodies, not converts to the faith, to churches and pastors around the nation who were too lazy to get their own vision from God. He has become the poster child for the word COMPROMISE.

Let me deal right away with the outrage from the homosexual community over Obama asking Warren to give the invocation at his inauguration. They are so blinded by their sin that they don't realize Warren is the last person they need to fear or worry about. Yes, I am well aware that Pastor Warren supported Proposition 8. For the record, that only happened a few days before the election after he was shamed and forced by those brave me and women who championed that stand in California for God's Holy Institution of Marriage.

Warren made national news during the recent Presidential election when he hosted a debate between Senators Obama and McCain. 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. Warren also spoke at one of Robert Schuller's Institute for Successful Church Leadership conferences. In attendance at that Institute were 80 gay and lesbian ministers from the now Jesus Metropolitan Churches which cater to homosexuals and lesbians. Many of the clergy of these churches are practicing, unrepentant homosexuals!

I do credit Warren for being consistent in his public comments (when pressed) against the sin of homosexuality and that marriage is to be between a man and a woman as God dictated. However, he takes ZERO leadership on key spiritual issues like abortion or gay marriage, and is quick to join forces with the homosexual community and those in the cults and false religions of the world to advance his personal agenda. He was at a Muslim convention this past weekend, where Melissa Ethridge, an openly lesbian activist and music artist performed. Warren said the two had a "wonderful conversation" and that he is a huge fan who has all her albums.

At that event, Warren told the Muslims, "You don't have to see eye to eye to walk hand in hand." Listen, Rick Warren is a PASTOR. He is supposed to be a messenger of the GOSPEL. He is NOT a politician!!! The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not something you water down or compromise. It is not about being politically correct because the eternal souls of men are at stake. There is no "walking hand in hand" with Muslims! They are on the wide road to destruction while born-again Believers are on that narrow road to Glory! Muslims need to understand that they have bought a 1400-year-old lie from hell, and when they die, their souls will burn in the flames of hell for all eternity unless they turn from the lies of Islam and embrace faith in Jesus Christ and the Truth of the Bible!!!

Warren is a case study in the word "compromise." He embraces the damnable ecumenical movement that seeks to unite people of all beliefs, meaning Christians are expected to "compromise" and abandon the Absolute Truth of the Bible! His infamous book, The Purpose Driven Church, was endorsed by Leonard Sweet, a firm New Age Movement advocate. Warren hired Ken Blanchard to come to Saddleback to help train people how to be effective leaders. Blanchard is a huge advocate of the New Age philosophies. He wrote the foreword to Jim Ballard's books Mind Like Water and What Would Buddha Do At Work? He was on the front cover of Corporate Mystic and the back cover of Deepak Chopra's Seven Spiritual Laws of Success and wrote the Foreword to Ellen Ladd's (clairvoyant) book, Death and Letting Go. Blanchard makes no apology when he says much can be gained from Buddhism. He and his wife both encourage the practice of yoga and mantra meditation.

Why does a self-professed Baptist evangelist associate with these types of people? Not to preach the Gospel to them, but to use his association for his benefit! Sadly Warren decided that he could make his impact by pursuing a worldwide social agenda. That is fine. We need people to lead the effort on global poverty, AIDS in Africa, and other social causes. But you can't pursue this social agenda and ignore the pressing issues that are destroying this nation like killing babies, gay marriage, and family issues. IT IS NOT ACCEPTABLE AT ANY TIME TO COMPROMISE THE GOSPEL AND THE TRUTH OF THE BIBLE IN ORDER TO ACCOMPLISH ANY PURSUIT, NO MATTER HOW WORTHY! While these social issues are worth bringing attention to and fighting for, the fact is all men will die one day and at that moment the only thing that matters is if they know Jesus as their personal Savior by Faith.

I love you and care about you so much. It is easy to see why President-elect Obama asked Warren to deliver the invocation at his inauguration. It was payback for Warren compromising once again and allowing this enemy of God to stand in his pulpit at a recent conference on social issues. Actually, Warren desecrates his pulpit often with every kind of heretic and blasphemer you can name in the pursuit of his global social agenda. He even boasted about having Obama in his pulpit!

By accepting this invitation, all Warren has done is give credibility to Obama, further proliferating the lie that he is a Christian, when the fact is he takes stands in opposition to the Christ he proclaims and the Truth of the Bible on EVERY key spiritual issue that faces our nation. By giving the invocation at the upcoming inaugural, Rick Warren is giving his blessing to Obama's rebellion to God and the Bible. Sadly, Warren's agenda is more important than God's agenda! His appearance and compromise actually only emboldens those who live in rebellion to God and His Word.

For Pastor Rick Warren to bless and give the invocation at the upcoming inauguration of a man who will help insure millions of babies around the world are slaughtered, and force US taxpayers to fund this legalized infanticide, is no different than if Adolph Hitler had asked him to give the blessing and invocation when he became Chancellor of Germany!!!

True men of God like John the Baptist, the prophets in the Old Testament, literally gave their lives to stand for God's Truth with the political leaders of their day. Sadly, Rick Warren is not a great man of God, but simply a man who has compromised his faith and the message of the Gospel in order to advance his agenda. I will be praying for Pastor Warren, and ask you to as well, that he will let the Holy Sprit speak the words this coming January 20th. I pray that out of his lips will come a prayer calling this nation back to God, condemning this culture of death and all who support it, proclaiming that God's plan in the Bible for marriage and family is the foundation of our culture, and inviting President-elect Barack Hussein Obama to ask God to forgive his sins and accept by faith Jesus Christ as His personal Savior and lead this nation as a man of God, not an enemy of God!

THAT IS THE ONLY PRAYER A TRUE MAN OF GOD COULD POSSIBLY DELIVER!

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