"The church that can’t worship must be entertained. And men who can’t lead a church to worship must provide the entertainment." -A. W. Tozer

THE CHURCH GROWTH MOVEMENT:

AN ANALYSIS OF RICK WARREN'S "PURPOSE DRIVEN"

CHURCH GROWTH STRATEGY:

The Seeker Friendly Movement: A Prophetic Warning by Rev. David Wilkerson

(Courtesy of Youtube and Sermonindex.net)

(I do not endorse Benny Hinn's heretical theology; however, here he got it right about the problematic "Seeker Sensitive" Churches, and those pastors who preach anything other than the true Gospel). 

"Jesus said, 'Preach the gospel to every creature.' But men are getting tired of the divine plan; they are going to be saved by a priest, going to be saved by the music, going to be saved by theatricals, and nobody knows what! Well, they may try these things as long as ever they like; but nothing can ever come of the whole thing but utter disappointment and confusion, God dishonoured, the gospel travestied, hypocrites manufactured by the thousands, and the church dragged down to the level of the world."  (Charles Haddon Spurgeon, "Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit," Volume 40, page 199, 1888)

The irreverence of casualness in dress and behavior in worship; and the lack of respect for the Lord and His House, which has been encouraged by pastors in the "Seeker Sensitive" movement,
needs to be addressed:

"That very church which the world likes best is sure to be that which God abhors." (Charles Haddon Spurgeon, "How Saints May Help The Devil," July 24, 1859)

Knowing vs. Feeling in Worship

In this excerpt from his message at the Ligoner Ministries 2009 West Coast Conference, Alistair Begg reminds us of the importance of knowledge in worship.

Uncommonsense - churches becoming entertainment centers

(Source: "Life Talk" with Nicholas Heald, a Southern Baptist)

"The Whole Earth is Full of His Glory: The Recovery of Authentic Worship"

Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr.

Can the Church borrow the marketing tools of the world and apply them to the Church?

What is the history of the Church Growth, Purpose Driven movement and its false premises?

“The Church of Tares” answers those questions.

(Used with permission)

Rick Warren, Seeker Sensitives, Purpose Driven Churches, Emergents, and Muslims

This short video sample (below) is from the video, "The Submerging Church."  It shows how Rick Warren and others are seeking to unite with Muslims:

Rick Warren: “Legendary Cat Stevens

came by to see me today as I worked at

home on a sermon”

Who knew that Rick Warren and

Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens)

were this close?

100 passages in the Koran that 'invite people to violence'

So, why is Rick Warren associating with Muslims and writing 'statements of understanding'?

And a more pressing question is, "Why are Southern Baptist pastors paying any attention to Rick Warren?"

Under fire, vicar who said 'we love Allah': Liberal

clergyman attacked by traditional Anglicans for allowing full Muslim prayer service in his Church:

One man seen on the video, can be heard saying: "This is a grave of a Christian" as he uprooted a stone headstone from the ground.

Another voice in the footage says of the people buried in the cemetery: "These are dogs."

The attacks happened in the eastern city of Benghazi, near where British and Commonwealth troops fought heavy battles against German and Italian forces during the 1939-45 war.

The BBC reported that the attacks took place at the British Military Cemetery and the War Graves Cemetery.

Britain's Mail on Sunday newsapaper, which reported the attacks on its front page on Sunday, said many of the graves cemetery belong to members of Britain's 7th Armoured Division, known as the Desert Rats, who played a crucial role in the battle for control of Libya and Egypt between 1941 and 1943.

It said the Commonwealth graves there included servicemen from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and India.

The footage posted on Facebook showed about two dozen men in a cemetery in daylight. Several carried Kalashnikov automatic rifles and were wearing the mismatched camouflage uniforms commonly seen on militia members.

In an unhurried and systematic way, they kicked over neatly-arranged rows of headstones. "We will start with this and then carry on," says one voice on the recording. At one point, the person filming the footage also took his boot to a headstone.

Another group had placed a ladder against the large stone and metal cross overlooking the cemetery, and was smashing it with hammers. Several onlookers milled around the cemetery but no one was seen on the footage trying to intervene.

At one point, a voice on the recording says: "Come and see the incription on this ... There is Hebrew writing on it."

About 200 graves and a cross were damaged at the Benghazi British Military Cemetery in Libya in March 2012. As they rampage among the graves, Muslims repeatedly say of the dead servicemen: they are dogs, they are dogs. The Benghazi War Cemetery was also damaged.

More than 150 graves... were smashed or desecrated last year by a mob of Islamist extremists who invaded the Commonwealth war cemetery in Benghazi. Months later, the cemetery was attacked again, wreaking further destruction to the graves and memorial crosses... Nobody has been brought to justice for the destruction of the war graves... Radical Islamists have attacked Coptic and Orthodox churches, assaulted priests, fired grenades at Red Cross offices that were accused of proselytizing and destroyed dozens of shrines of the Sufi sect of Islam. Under the influence of the same ideology, Libyan military authorities arrested more than 50 Egyptian Copts and other foreign Christians in Benghazi on suspicion of proselytizing or distributing Christian pamphlets. This year alone, a Coptic church in Misrata was bombed, killing two Egyptian Christians, and a Coptic church in Benghazi was torched, nearly killing its priest.

This desecration is notable only because it was filmed. Muslims desecrated Istanbul's Christian cemeteries many times in the past 20 years. In September 2009, 90 tombstones were broken near ancient Valukli Monastery. In September 1955 Christian churches, cemeteries, and properties owned by Istanbul's Greek Orthodox community were desecrated and destroyed in a pogrom.

In mid-December of 2005, roughly 200 Muslim Azerbaijani soldiers were caught on videotape using sledgehammers to demolish medieval Armenian Christian cemetery in the Djulfa region of Nakhichevan. This was a sacred site of the Armenian Church. The cemetery dated back to the 7th century and was once home to as many as 10,000 intricately carved stone-crosses. This attack, which followed previous demolitions in 1998 and 2002, completely destroyed this cemetery.

In May 2011 Muslims destroyed and desecrated a Christian graveyard in Chak Jhumra, Faisalabad, Pakistan, using a tractor to plough over a number of tombs. Buried coffins were broken and the bones of the dead were brought to the surface. The local police refused to open an inquiry. Muslims threatened local Christians who attempted to file a lawsuit.

Palestinian Muslims desecrated 70 Christian graves in two Christian cemeteries in the West Bank village of Jiffna near Ramallah in May 2009.

??The phenomenon of cross-destruction goes back to the life and example of Muhammad. A tradition reported by al-Waqidi said that if ever Muhammad found an object in his house with the mark of a cross on it, he would destroy it. (W. Muir, The life of Muhammad. Volume 3, p.61, note 47.)

Desecration of Christian cemeteries is a small part of Muslim intimidation and violence against Christian and Jewish minorities. There are hundreds of Muslim no-go zones in Europe. If the present trends continue, Muslims will become the majority of European population in about 50 years. European Jews are attacked with great regularity and they already flee Europe.

(This video has been vetted by the "Snopes" website).

The video follows (sound has been removed):

How the world's religious landscape will look in 2050: Islam will become America's second-largest religion as the percentage of atheists across the globe will fall, in the following pdf article:

"The Purpose Driven Life"

has an Inadequate Gospel

Rick Warren's best selling book "The Purpose Driven Life" presents the gospel such an inadequate way that it will only lead to false conversions and apostasy. Todd Friel and John Macarthur explain what's up with The Purpose Driven Life.

"The Morass of Seeker Sensitive"

with Dr. Justin Peters, from a seminar at Stavanger, Norway, 2015:

The following is taken from Dan Southerland's book: "Transitioning," and page references are given where appropriate. This is what they're pushing:

(Southerland's Overall Steps to "Transition" your church):

Change your Approach - from "Program Driven" (read: traditional), to "Purpose Driven".

Change your Target - from reaching saved fellow Christians to reaching the "un-churched". (this is an oxymoron, since church is by definition for the saved. Is "jail" for the "un-jailed"?)

Change your Leadership - Move away from a Deacon Board leadership (read: Biblical) model, and have the staff make all the decisions. (in other words, let the people whose paychecks depend on the choices made decide everything. No matter that this may open them up to spiritual attack and make them vulnerable to unethical, even un-Biblical decisions!)

Change your Pastors - From a senior pastor model to multiple pastors. (not wrong in and of itself, but they're using this to make up a new "board" of directors). (Like adding a non-seminary trained "Worship Leader" to the staff).

Change your Ministry - From staff doing all the ministry to lay ministers doing the ministry. (again, it's not bad in and of itself to use lay-pastors, but they use it to increase indoctrination and "group-think").

Change your Strategy - From no plan to a "Life-cycle process" that is "driven by small groups" (see more on this below).

Change your Schedule - Have your services targeted to the "un-churched", and if you must reach the already saved, do it in a separate service. (Why confuse those poor pagans with true gospel and Biblical teaching?)

Change your Small Groups - from traditional educational groups to "relational" small groups. (This is also used to increase peer pressure to accept wrong teaching, and as a format to "seed" in strategically placed proponents to apply pressure to members to conform.)

Pastors are taught that objectors are "Sanballats" whom Southerland calls "leaders from hell". He goes on to write "You cannot call this guy a leader from hell to his face, but you can call him a Sanballat". (pg. 115).

Be Willing To Let People Leave the Church: Southerland teaches that the traditional members who are pillars of the church can just hold you back from the changes, and fight your methods. He and Rick Warren are proud of the numbers they've chased off. "When you set the vision and stay the course, you determine who leaves" (pg 127). (They don't care that their new "church" is a mile wide and an inch deep spiritually. It's only the numbers and the money that count in the long run, no matter how much they try to trumpet their desire to "reach the un-churched").

In the following 2 short videos, Dr. R.C. Sproul, Dr. Ravi Zacharias, and Dr. Albert Mohler  (President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky) explain the "Seeker Sensitive," "Purpose Driven," and "Emergent church" philosophy, behind the "contemporary" worship movement, that has gradually taken root, across the country in Baptist churches and other denominations. 

RC Sproul masterfully gets to the core of the seeker movement by asserting it’s fundamental errors: (1) that unbelievers are “seeking” God, and (2) that the purpose of weekly worship is to reach the lost. 

That last statement probably made you stop cold in your tracks.

Let’s face it, the job of every believer is to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ – the Good News that if you acknowledge your sinful state, repent of your sins and accept Christ as your Savior, then you would gain eternal salvation and relationship with the Father.

It’s our daily job, evidenced by our daily lives. But because we don’t live the Gospel message, we assume that if we hit “sinners” over the head with a bat and drag them into church on Sunday, then the Gospel will “get into them” through osmosis and they would be changed!

So, the church and worship service becomes a marketing event that uses worldly tools (car raffles, coffee shops, provocative sermons, etc.) to attract new clients worshippers.

Sproul said it best:

If you want a power in your Church, be an expository preacher; preach the Word because that’s where the Spirit is. Isn’t that God’s strategy? If we believe God’s strategy, we’re going to preach the Word.

Amen, RC…Amen!

Are You Considering the Rick Warren & Bill Hybels Model for Your Church?

(Source: Amos 3:7 website)

Dr. Gary Gilley visited Ireland and spoke on issues concerning the Evangelical church today

These videos are part of a four part series on the damning indictment of the market-driven churches that are so popular today. This first video is an introduction to the church in the "age of entertainment". Dr. Gilley contends that the church has sold out to our culture so that the influences of the culture have become the influences in the church. The most significant forces pressing against the church are entertainment, market driven philosophies and psychology. These three are largely absent from the Bible, yet are startlingly prevalent in evangelical churches. The leaders and issues he concentrates on most are Rick Warren and his book The Purpose Driven Church, Bill Hybels and Lee Strobel. In the third and fourth parts of this series, Dr. Gilley will explain what the Emerging Church is and how it is dangerous to the Evangelical community.  (in public domain).

Note: Your internet "browser" must support "Vimeo" type "you tubes," to see the films on this page.  Most will not play on mobile iPhone or iPad

Are Tongues for Today?

(Panel Discussion with Michael Horton, Alistair Begg, and RC Sproul)

“Marks of Real Church Growth”

March 24, 2013  (John MacArthur, “Grace to You,” Copyright 2013, All rights reserved.  Used with Permission)

With attendance plummeting, church turns to a new solution: carnival rides

UK cathedrals become amusement parks to attract visitors

Slides, mini golf and gin – drawcard or distraction?

Notice in the following article the un-biblical justifications given by those who oversee those churches:

Ed Stetzer SAYS BOOKS CHANGE MINDS BUT SONGS CHANGE HEARTS????:

What does the term "Missional Church" mean?

“Missional” = a vague, trendy word describing something having to do with spreading the Gospel all the time, but with modern, culture-savvy undertones and apparently containing content, which the SBC, the most historically evangelistic and missions-driven denomination in the history of western Protestantism, still needs to be taught by young, hip guys who (with respect) have had to sacrifice little for the Gospel. Also no hint of this kind of trendy language in the writings of William Carey, Billy Graham, and other giants of world missions and evangelism since the Reformation.  It is an off-shoot of the "Purpose Driven" and "Seeker Sensitive" off-brand movements.

The Adulation of Man in the "Purpose Driven Life"

"Contemporary Worship" is only part of the problem;

it also involves: "The Emergent Church,"  "Seeker Sensitive Service," "Purpose Driven," and "Missional Church" movement philosophies.

The pseudo-theological methodology "Emergent Church" model, with an emphasis on being "Seeker Sensitive," was explored in a recent article written by Bob Allen, managing editor of "Associated Baptist Press News" (which is planning to merge with "The Religious Herald.")  The article appeared in the April 29, 2013 issue of "The Religious Herald," the Virginia Baptist State newspaper.  The article, titled, "Author proposes to end Interfaith Hostility," was an open endorsement of Brian McLaren's latest book, and his role in the "Emergent Church" movement. 

Brian McLaren's theology is suspect, as explained below in the video titled, "Post Modernism and the Emergent Church."  His liberal viewpoint is the new branding of the old "Seeker Sensitive" movement of the 1990's, and it needs to be seen for what it is: heresy, plain and simple.  Every chapter of his books dies the death of a thousand qualifications.  It appeals, though, to people in the church because they don't want to deal with doctrine. 

It's kind of like a man I had dinner with recently, who stated, "Well, we all believe the same thing don't we?"  No, we don't.

Dr. Al Mohler, President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, told about a recent interview that appeared in "Time" magazine, in which Brian McLaren stated, when asked about his position on homosexuality, said, "I'm reluctant to answer, because whatever I say, will offend someone."  That was his answer!  On a blog sponsored by "Christianity Today," McLaren suggested "we take a 5 year moratorium on talking about homosexuality, and come back in 5 years, and see if we still believe what we believe." That's the essence of "Post-Modernism." This is the abdication of Christian responsibility!  It is an abdication of Christian conviction, and it is a cave-in of Christian courage.  We do have an answer, and it's not like we don't know what it is!

In the following 3 short videos, Dr. R.C. Sproul, Dr. Ravi Zacharias, and Dr. Albert Mohler  (President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky) explain the "seeker sensitive/purpose driven" and "emergent church" philosophy, behind the "contemporary" worship movement that has gradually taken root in in many Baptist Churches. 

Then, in another video, Southern Baptist preacher, Dr. Vance Havner, speaks to the three temptations facing today's church. 

Listen carefully, as they explain why it happened, where this bogus theology came from, what worship really is ("contemporary" music is just part of the problem).

When will Southern Baptists wake up to the devastating results of giving men unlimited, unaccounted-for personal power?

Baptist ecclesiology is vanishing away right before our eyes.

Does Sunday Morning Church Really Need All This Glitter, Showmanship and Gimmickry?

Church-growth’s modern passion for “relevance” will become its road to irrelevance. Its modern passion for “felt needs” will turn the church into an echo chamber of fashionable needs that drown out the One voice that addresses real human need below all felt needs.