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Section 10A .. The Contemporary Church / ‘Christian’ Courses/Purpose Driven

 

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Rick Warren’s Strange Bedfellows

Carol Brooks

Amos 3:3 “Shall two walk together, except they have agreed?”

Or are we supposed to believe that Rick Warren is ignorant of the goals of every event he speaks at? The beliefs of everyone he shares a stage with or whose book he endorses?

Note:  At The Time of Posting All External Links Were Good.

Rick Warren and Peter Drucker
Warren’s mentor well known in the business world for Management techniques and business innovation is now recognized as the grandfather of the ‘mega-church' movement. But is he even a Christian?

Rick Warren and The Emerging Church
Although Saddleback is not a direct participant in the movement, Rick Warren obviously approves of leaders Brian McLaren, Dan Kimball, Spencer Burke Etc.

Rick Warren and Robert Schuller
There has apparently been some controversy regarding the connections between Rick Warren and Robert Schuller, with Rick Warren himself denying that he was mentored in any way by Schuller.. But Schuller tells a different story

003white New Rick Warren and Rupert Murdoch
 Rick Warren claims to be pastor to Rupert Murdoch, who’s News Corporation owns The Sun, a UK based tabloid. ‘Page 3’ of the paper is little more than ‘soft porn’. Additionally Murdoch is building a stable of wholly-owned pornographic channels for his BSkyB subsidiary.

  Rick Warren And Dr. Ron Wolfson
jewishjournal.com says “Warren managed to speak for the entire evening [at a Jewish Temple] without once mentioning Jesus — a testament to his savvy message-tailoring”. Savvy message-tailoring or a testament to a man who is little more than a dangerous fool?

Rick Warren and Mitt Romney
When asked why Mormon leaders are involved in his pastoral training programs Rick Warren told USA Today: "I'm not going to get into a debate over the non-essentials. I won't try to change other denominations. Why be divisive?"

Rick Warren and Sen. Barack Obama
Warren has invited Sen. Barack Obama to speak to the congregation of the faithful on Dec. 1, 2006. In doing so, he has joined himself with one of the smoothest politicians of our times, and also one whose worldview contradicts nearly every tenet of the Christian faith that Warren professes.

Rick Warren and The Syrians
Warren has traveled to and provided legitimacy to a hostile foreign government, presided over by a brutal fascist dictator who hates Jews, threatens Israel, subverts neighboring Lebanon, imprisons and terrorizes its own citizens and even kills them in massive numbers when they stand up in revolt

Rick Warren and The Templeton Foundation
“Templeton's beliefs are clearly expressed in his numerous writings: He is an evolutionist, pantheist, universalist, and has occultic views

Rick Warren Teams Up With Ken Blanchard
a man who so obviously promotes and believes in the benefits and use of mantra meditation, yoga and who has no trouble borrowing from Buddhism.

Rick Warren and Catalyst
There seems to be no end to the list of dubious people Rick Warren will willingly share a stage with.

Rick Warren and Leonard Sweet
In Leonard Sweet’s 24 Transitions For Moving Into The 21st Century, point reads as follows: From "Does it Make Sense" to "Was it a Good Experience?"

Bernie Siegel
Says this of his ‘spirit guide’ "All I know is that he has been my invaluable companion ever since his first appearance. My life is much easier now, because he does the hard work”

Warren Meets With Yonggi Cho
“Cho's teachings are an idolatrous mix of a little Biblical teaching with a lot of occult healing, prophesying, visualization, sorcery, and pagan mind techniques

Rick Warren Endorsed The Alpha Course
Leaders of the Counterfeit Revival demand the Kingdom now! — in this life, with all of its attendant material wealth, public accolades, physical health, and earthly power

Rick Warren’s tribute to John Wimber
This is the ecumenical, I love Mary, user of relics, guided imagery and visualization, believer in astral projection, "Zen" prayer techniques for meditation (i.e., Buddhism), and Jungian psychology John Wimber. Yup! The very same guy!

Rick Warren and The Minerva Awards
Pastor Warren seems to have little concern speaking at conferences highlighting awards named after Roman Goddesses, especially since he totally neglects to present the Gospel.

Rick Warren and The Aspen Institute
The Aspen Institute web site defines it’s mission..  “Our core mission is to foster enlightened leadership and open-minded dialogue.

Rick Warren and Henry Nouwen
Rick Warren says this about In the Name of Jesus by Henry Nouwen.. My wife, Kay, recommends this book: "It's a short book, but it hits at the heart of the minister

Three Questions for Rick Warren

 

Rick Warren and Peter Drucker

On May 23, 2005 Rick Warren was a guest speaker at the The Pew and Religion Forum, where he said

     "Peter Drucker ... he's my mentor. I've spent 20 years under his tutelage learning about leadership from him." RW

And

    “I read everything Peter Drucker writes. His book “The Effective Executive" is a favourite I re-read every year. Long before words like “empowerment” became popular, Peter was telling us that the secret of achieving results is to focus on your strengths, and the strengths of those you work with, rather than focusing on weaknesses. In fact, Peter says, making strengths productive is the unique purpose of organisation.

    “… find out what others do well and help them to be able to do more of it. This is the key to effective businesses, effective churches, and every other effective organisation. Great organisations position people for success rather than trying to eliminate all their weaknesses. It's far easier to manage weaknesses than to eliminate all of them.” (BUILDING ON YOUR STRENGTHS - By Rick Warren)

The Drucker-Warren relationship may surprise many readers, but it goes back two decades, to when the young minister came to Drucker for advice. Under Drucker's tutelage, Warren's own success as a spiritual entrepreneur has been considerable. Saddleback has grown to 15,000 members and has helped start another 60 churches throughout the world. Warren's 2001 book, The Purpose-Driven Life, is this decade's best seller with 19.5 million copies sold so far and compiling at the rate of 500,000 per month.”  (http://www.forbes.com/home/management/2004/11/19/cz_rk_1119drucker.html)

Although Drucker is supposed to be a ‘religious man’, he is well known in the business world for Management techniques and business innovation…

    Peter Drucker has written 35 books in all: 15 books deal with management, including the landmark books The Practice of Management and The Effective Executive; 16 cover society, economics, and politics; 2 are novels; and 1 is a collection of autobiographical essays.  His most recent book, Managing in the Next Society, was published in fall 2002.  (http://www.peter-drucker.com/about.html)

Drucker advised Warren on the challenges of ministry and church building. This consultation is one Drucker and Warren have engaged in twice yearly for two decades”. 

Drucker says

Drucker's concepts of man, society and church were ‘lab-tested' by pioneers of the mega-church movement. Mr. Drucker is now recognized as the grandfather of the ‘mega-church' movement.
 

So Who is Peter Drucker?

“Peter Drucker's parents were part of the Vienna Circle . The members met regularly to discuss philosophy, religion and society. This was a radical group of elite, affluent European intellectuals, who developed a new model of man and society.  Many of their ideas were rooted in German mysticism. Young Peter Drucker grew up with an aptitude for philosophical analysis and he incorporated innovative social theories into his Systems Management ideas so popular today. His social theory is found in an article posted on his official website. The article is “The Age of Social Transformation”.
(
www.christianquill.com/)

Did we miss something here? Why does a Baptist Preacher spend 20 years under the tutelage of a business man.. What happened to years of staying at Jesus’ feet? Wouldn’t that be all the knowledge and wisdom a pastor would need? 

Not in today’s Market Driven Church which focuses is on what the consumer (Unchurched Harry) wants and thinks he needs, rather than on what God wants and what He says Harry needs. In other words, market-driven churches are built upon the foundation of polls, surveys, and the latest marketing techniques, instead of upon the Word of God. {TOP OF PAGE}

 

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Rick Warren and Rupert Murdoch

The SunThe picture on the left is a screen shot taken from The Sun, a UK based tabloid owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation.  ‘Page 3’ of the paper is little more than ‘soft porn’.

However Rupert Murdoch is supposed to be a born-again Christian and Rick Warren claims to be his pastor: In the Sept 12, 2005 edition of the New Yorker Rick Warren said:

    “I had dinner with Jack Welch last Sunday night,” he said. "He came to church, and we had dinner. I've been kind of mentoring him on his spiritual journey. And he said to me, 'Rick, you are the biggest thinker I have ever met in my life. The only other person I know who thinks globally like you is Rupert Murdoch.' And I said, 'That's interesting. I'm Rupert's pastor! Rupert published my book!'" Then he tilted back his head and gave one of those big Rick Warren laughs. (Source)

 

On November 12, 2006 the Orange County Register published an article entitled God's business

    Warren says he is pastor to Rupert Murdoch, whose News Corp. subsidiary publishes "The Purpose-Driven Life" but also publishes tabloid newspapers featuring topless women.

    "I don't have to agree with 100 percent of what another person does in order to work with them on the 20 percent that we do agree on," Warren says.

    That pragmatic attitude has paid off. Murdoch was among the first to support the PEACE plan, donating $2 million. Other business leaders, such as John Kang, a Saddleback member and tech-industry CEO, and Joe Ritchie, a Chicago businessman and former options trader, donated time and expertise. [Source]

Additionally an article called “Revealed: Murdoch’s growing adult television empire” by Rupert Steiner in the online magazine The Business states…

    RUPERT Murdoch, the born-again Christian who chairs media giant News Corporation, has been secretly building a stable of wholly-owned pornographic channels for his BSkyB subsidiary. The Business has learnt that BSkyB now owns and operates its own pornographic channels – the 18+ Movies selection – after years of hosting third-party content only.

    Historically BSkyB, under its licence agreement, had no choice but to host every channel that won permission from the industry regulator Ofcom. The regulator agrees a fixed fee for the use of the platform by third parties. But BSkyB has been secretly expanding its activities in the growing business of pornographic television with its wholly owned 18+ Movies offering. The company has also been entering into partnerships with companies that broadcast pornographic television channels on BSkyB, such as Sport XXX Babes, XXX Housewives and Playboy.

    BSkYB has agreed retail distribution agreements with these companies. With Playboy, for instance, BSkyB now not only hosts the channel but sells its service, and collects and shares in the revenues from Playboy customers. [http://news.infoshop.org/article.php?story=20060214105640578]

Additionally

    “… in December of 2006 Agape Press ran an Feature article by Ed Vitagliano called “Porn Profits Surge on Main Street” where he quotes Gail Dines, professor of American Studies at Boston's Wheelock College, who tells us:

    “[Rupert Murdoch’s] News Corp. is a major owner of DirecTV, which sells more pornographic films than [Hustler magazine founder and porn film producer Larry] Flynt,” Dines explained. “In 2000, the New York Times reported that nearly $200 million a year is spent by the 8.7 million subscribers to DirecTV. Among News Corp.'s other media holdings are the Fox broadcasting and cable TV networks, Twentieth Century Fox, the New York Post, and TV Guide. Welcome to synergy: Murdoch also owns HarperCollins, which published pornography star Jenna Jameson’s best-selling book How To Make Love Like A Porn Star.”” [Ken Silva of Apprising Ministries. Purpose Driven Pornography: Why Rick Warren Must Publicly Rebuke Rupert Murdoch]

As stated on www.alittleleaven.com... If you are offended by the picture, please don’t call us. Contact 'brother' Murdoch's pastor at  pastorrick@saddleback.net.

By the way Rick Warren is not the only Christian leader to have dealings with Rupert Murdoch.  Pat Robertson sold International Family Entertainment (IFE), parent company of the Family Channel to Rupert Murdoch for $1.9 billion. In addition, CBN agreed to sell its more than 3.8 million shares of stock in IFE to Murdoch for $136.1 million. (Robertson remains active in both organizations.) The deal enabled Murdoch to take over the Family Channel's cable television audience for his subsidiary, Fox Kids Worldwide”. 
[
www.inplainsite.org/html/pat_robertson.html]

{TOP OF PAGE}
 

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Rick Warren And Dr. Ron Wolfson

Who is Dr Ron Wolfson?

    “… Fingerhut Professor of Education at the University of Judaism in Los Angeles and a cofounder of Synagogue 3000. He is author of Hanukkah, Passover, and Shabbat, all family guides to spiritual celebrations; The Spirituality of Welcoming: How to Transform Your Congregation into a Sacred Community; A Time to Mourn, a Time to Comfort: A Guide to Jewish Bereavement and Comfort; and, with Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman, What You Will See Inside a Synagogue (all Jewish Lights). [http://jewishlights.com/Press%20Room/GodsToDoList.htm]

Rick Warren has endorsed [The other three endorsers are Rabbis] Dr. Ron Wolfson’s latest book, God’s To-Do List: 103 Ways to be an Angel and Do God’s Work on Earth with the following statement..

    “This book is built on a great premise: Figure out what God does and then do that with other people! Simple but profound. I loved this book!”

    —Rick Warren, author, The Purpose-Driven Life

Rick Warren’s endorsement of a book is hardly grounds on which to plunk down your $12.99 and this one is no different.  In the following excerpts all emphasis has been added.

from the Introduction: God’s To-Do List

    God has a To-Do List for you….. You are God’s partner. God needs you to continue the ongoing creation of the world….”

Wolfson then quotes Genesis 1:27 [So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them].

     “Wait a minute. What does it mean to be ‘made’ in the ‘image’ of God?

    It means that the spark of divinity is within you.”

In “God Needs You” he says

    “Yet, even God realized that the world would need a very special presence, human beings who are literally infused with the breath-the spirit- of God to be the frontline caretakers of creation. God can’t do it alone. That’s why God created you”. {TOP OF PAGE}


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Rabbi Ron Wolfson and The “Jesus’ Man”

In June of 2006, Rob Eshman, Editor-in-Chief of the jewishjournal.com wrote an article entitled Jesus’ Man Has a Plan, in which he talks about Rick Warren speaking at Sinai temple “as part of the Synagogue 3000 program, which aims to revitalize Jewish worship” [emphasis added]

Some excerpts from the article

    “The program’s leader, Rabbi Ron Wolfson, met Warren a decade ago and was influenced by the pastor’s first book, “The Purpose-Driven Church” (Zondervan, 1995). And to demonstrate what such a church looked like in action, Wolfson brought two busloads of synagogue leaders to Warren’s Saddleback Church in South Orange County to experience firsthand the pastor’s success….”

And

    “…The other secret to his success is his passion for God and Jesus. Warren managed to speak for the entire evening without once mentioning Jesus — a testament to his savvy message-tailoring. But make no mistake, the driving purpose of an evangelical church is to evangelize, and it is Warren’s devotion to spreading the words of the Christian Bible that drive his ministry.

    Good for him and his flock — and not so bad for us either. His teachings apply to 95 percent of all people, regardless of religious belief. As he put it to a group of rabbis at a conference last year — using a metaphor that might be described as a Paulian slip: “Eat the fish and throw away the bones.”

    Warren told Wolfson his interest is in helping all houses of worship, not in converting Jews. He said there are more than enough Christian souls to deal with for starters.

    The success of Warren’s second book, “The Purpose-Driven Life” (Zondervan, 2002), demonstrates his ability to turn a particular gospel into a universal one”.

Finally

    “Similarly, Warren has leveraged his fame to bring attention to AIDS in Africa and other global problems. He said he’d just come from a photo shoot at Sony Studios with Brad Pitt and was about to meet overseas with the leaders of 11 countries in 37 days. While he was at Sinai Temple, his wife, Kay, was at the White House”.
     

Words can not express how tired I am of this man who claims to be a Christian pastor, yet can speak for the entire evening in a Jewish temple and not once mention Jesus.  He wants to help all houses of worship but does not want to convert Jews. How precisely is he helping them then? Is his marketing expertise going to enable them to add to their congregations or perhaps raise more money? Wow! I guess Matthew had it all wrong when he said

    "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? [Matthew 16:26]

The article says that one secret to Warren’s success “is his passion for God and Jesus”  I guess He is not passionate enough about the warning God and Jesus  have issued to this world. Nor does he seem to be even dimly aware of how close to Armageddon we truly areSo he can manage to speak “for the entire evening without once mentioning Jesus — a testament to his savvy message-tailoring”.  

You are savvy alright Warren and will have much to answer for on that final day when souls you could have saved are sentenced to death.

    [The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. Proverbs 1:7]

 {TOP OF PAGE}

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Rick Warren, Mitt Romney and The Mormons.

It is a fact that the "40 Days of Purpose" and other church growth and leadership materials produced by Rick Warren are aggressively marketed to Mormons and others outside Christian orthodoxy. When asked why Mormon leaders are involved in his pastoral training programs Rick Warren told USA Today:

    "I'm not going to get into a debate over the non-essentials. I won't try to change other denominations. Why be divisive?" [Source]

Say WHAT? Mormonism...a "denomination" and “non-essentials” such as the identity of Jesus Christ, godhood for mankind or the route to eternal salvation??? [See Section on Mormonism]

Clearly, Warren doesn't KNOW or doesn't WANT to identify Mormonism as non-Christian. Either way, what USA Today didn't report is that Rick Warren is helping train Mormon leaders to more effectively present a false religion to the world - a false religion that has led millions of lost souls to an eternal Hell.

Now, we find listed alongside a Mitt Romney promo video on the popular YouTube website that one of his favorite books is listed as...you guessed it, The Purpose Driven Life. [Source]

 It is the only religious book he mentioned (Hummmm, in May 2007 Romney listed the Bible and Scientology founder, L. Ron Hubbard's tasteless novel "Battlefield Earth" as first and second on his list of "must reads." [Source]  

As you ponder the correlation of Warren and Romney, also note this quote: "...we are a religious people... We are a purpose-driven people..."   Governor Mitt Romney, Union Leader, March 19, 2006 

The point is that Warren can't or doesn't care to identify that Mormonism is cultic and NOT in any way orthodox Christianity and Romney doesn't seem to discern anything from Warren or his book to make him think that the Purpose Driven Philosophy is incompatible with Mormonism! Both Christians and Mormons should scratch their heads in wonder. The line between truth and error continues to blur...or simply just disappear altogether - exactly what the Scriptures foretell of for the end-days. [Eric Barger. The Common Ground of Rick Warren & Mitt Romney]   {TOP OF PAGE}

 

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Rick Warren, The Templeton Foundation and The Power of Purpose
Adapted from A Bridge over other Waters by Let Us Reason Ministries

The Power of Purpose, Sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation, is a world-wide essay competition with the theme "The Power of Purpose" with total grand prizes of $500,000 and the grand prize of $100,000. There is no entry fee. Essays should be no more than 3,500 words in English, entrants are to be 18 years of age or older. “The award-winning essays in this competition will be selected by this distinguished panel of judges, all of whom have exemplified throughout their lives and careers a strong and unmistakable understanding of The Power of Purpose.

The Templeton web site says

     “In day-to-day life, we encounter men and women who seem driven by something outside of themselves, whose commitment to their profession or volunteer activities, their community, or their cause seems to rise above the necessary, above the possible, above even the human. Indeed, we say that in such people we see “the divine spark.”

    Many religious traditions, both Eastern and Western, subscribe to the idea that there is something of God’s presence in each of us. Even for the growing number of people who describe themselves as spiritual, but not necessarily religious, there is a certain attachment to this concept of the divine spark. It is the sense that our lives can be guided from within by something more important than our simple survival, something not merely intellectual either, something in our souls.”  http://www.templeton.org/powerofpurpose/about.html

“ Few have done as much to promote a sense of unity among the world's religions than John Marks Templeton. Templeton has become world renowned for offering a million dollars as his annual prize from his religious research center that is dedicated to develop progress in religion.

The Council for a Parliament of World Religions promotes inter-religious dialogue and plans for the world's “spiritual future by having government institutionalize a global ethic.” I have heard that Sir John Templeton serves on the Parliament of World Religions board of trustees, and while I have not been able to confirm this, it is known that the Templeton Foundation has been one of the the financial contributors to the Parliament. The Media Transparency Site lists a donation of $47,500 over two years (1999 and 2000)

Additionally The Templeton Foundation has also made several substantial donations to the Association of Unity Churches. The Unity Church website has this to say...

    Q What are the basic tenets of the Unity teachings?

    “... Jesus was a special person in history who expressed perfection and thereby became the Christ, or Jesus Christ. He was a Teacher who demonstrated the importance of thoughts, words, and deeds in shaping the life and world of the individual”

    Q Do Unity ministry teachers believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ?

    A Yes. Unity church leaders teach that the spirit of God dwelt in Jesus, just as it indwells every person; and that every person has the potential to express the perfection of Christ, as Jesus did, by being more Christ-like in everyday life.

    What are Unity's distinctive characteristics?

    A “Unity students are encouraged to align with the spirit of the Christ within for personal guidance and direction that will best enhance their spiritual growth....”

Templeton also donated a sum of $50,000 to First United Church of Christ in Northfield MN, which says on their site

    “Through the years, other groups such as American Indians, Afro-Christians, Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, Volga Germans, Armenians, and Hispanic Americans have joined with the four earlier groups. In recent years, Christians from other traditions, including the Roman Catholic Church, have found a home in the UCC, and so have gay and lesbian Christians who have not been welcome in other churches. Thus the United Church of Christ celebrates and continues a broad variety of traditions in its common life”.

Templeton is also linked to some very important and wealthy people that have been known to be involved in Globalism, both politically and religiously.

“Templeton's beliefs are clearly expressed in his numerous writings: He is an evolutionist, pantheist, universalist, and has occultic views. His writings display a rejection of the God of the Bible, Christ as the only way to God. He claims that heaven and hell are states of mind we create here on earth that truth is relative, and that Christianity is no longer relevant today as it was in Christ’s day”.

In his own words

    “God is billions of stars in the Milky Way and He is much more …Time and space and energy are all part of God …God is five billion people on Earth…God is untold billions of beings on planets of millions of other stars …God is the only reality… God is all of you and you are a little part of Him” (Templeton, Humility, p. 37-38.)

    According to Templeton, “progress” is needed because the; world's scriptures (including the Bible) “were written … [by] men whose minds were limited by cosmologies long since discredited.” Nor does the Bible accurately record the words of Christ, because those who reported them “could write clown only what they understood … [as] ignorant and primitive…”

    “Templeton has been noted for saying “I am hoping to develop a body of knowledge about God that doesn’t rely on ancient revelations or scripture (the bible)… The main purpose of the Templeton foundations is to encourage enthusiasm for accelerating discovery and progress in spiritual matters” (the Humble Approach p135-139).

    “No one should say that God can be reached by only one path” (The Humble Approach pp. 46,55).

    To say that God cannot reveal Himself again in a decisive way [through other Messiahs] …seems sacrilegious...” (Templeton, Humility, pp. 48,53.)

So what has all this to do with Rick Warren?

Just this... Rick Warren is one of five judges to determine the winner in the Power of Purpose Essays. Along with Hugh Delehanty Editor in Chief, AARP Publications (A practicing Buddhist),  Marian Wright Edelman Founder and President- Children's Defense Fund (Co-authored a book with Alison Wright who wrote The Spirit of Tibet: Portrait of a Culture in Exile and the photographer for A Simple Monk: Writings on His Holiness the Dalai Lama) and Paul Davies (Professor of Natural Philosophy also lectures to religious organizations around the world. He has had meetings with the Pope and the Dalai Lama and frequently debates science and religion with theologians). http://www.templeton.org/powerofpurpose/judges.html.

Which brings us to question one.... While people have the right to believe whatever they want, What is a ‘Christian’ leader doing on this panel. He does not seem at all uncomfortable with the New Age beliefs that has not only been promoted by Templeton in the past, but are being promoted on the same website.

Furthermore

The 2004 Grand Prize winner was August “Augie” Turak who wrote ‘Brother John’.

    “Brother John is the true story of how the author’s contemplative retreat at a Trappist monastery turns both magical and terrible when a simple monk offers to share an umbrella on a cold and rainy Christmas Eve. This simple act of loving-kindness proves almost more than he can bear, and becomes the catalyst for a gut wrenching re-evaluation of life, love, and the terrible yet fascinating nature of God”. See Winners

“While Brother John is his first attempt at serious writing, he is no stranger to religious, philosophical and/or spiritual themes. Turak founded the Self Knowledge Symposium Foundation, an interfaith non-profit, 15 years ago to help students at Duke, NC State, and UNC find a deeper and more spiritual purpose to their lives” .

About the Self Knowledge Symposium Foundation...
The Self Knowledge Symposium Foundation (www.selfknowledge.org) is a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit organization that encourages people to consciously develop their own personal, moral and spiritual values and to live according to them. The SKSF creates experiential learning programs and social contexts within which people can explore the deeper questions in life, developing intellectual understanding and personal character in a quest for the life worth living. [Source]

The same website also says

    “In 1973, Turak met a man who would change his life forever. His name was Richard Rose, and to the untrained eye, he was just a simple, West Virginia farmer. But Rose was much more. A voracious spiritual seeker since childhood, Rose had dedicated his life to finding God. He traveled the nation, looking for individuals, spiritual groups, and books that might have answers. At twenty-eight, in the late 1940s, he had an Enlightenment experience while meditating. He first impulse was to share his new knowledge with others, but in the conservative atmosphere of the era, he knew he would be taken for a madman, so he stayed quiet. When the spiritual movements of the 1960s and 1970s began, Rose saw that he finally had an opportunity to teach.

    August Turak was one of his first—and best—students. For five years, Turak studied under Richard Rose. Did he realize at the time that his life would never be the same?”

And

    But Turak's true love is the time he spends teaching university students involved in the Self Knowledge Symposium (SKS). Since founding the SKS in 1989, Turak has worked with thousands of university students on a strictly volunteer basis. Teaching students how to integrate spiritual values into their everyday lives based on his own experiences, Turak's students have gone on to successful careers in such varied professions as law, business, medicine, engineering, teaching, the armed forces, non-profit work, research science, and countless others.

Good Going Rick Warren

By the way

    “It was Norman Vincent Peale who called Templeton “The greatest layman of the Christian church in our time” (found on Jacket of Discovering the laws of Life, 1994). This he attributed to a man who is an evolutionist, universalist, pantheist, a non-Christian and even against Christian doctrine. How is this possible?

    Templeton and his New Age views were first introduced to the church by none other than Robert Schuller in 1986. Schuller put Templeton's picture on his Possibilities Magazine front cover. In it he wrote, “The Christ spirit dwells in every human being whether the person knows it or not nothing exists except God” (Possibilities, pp. 8-12, Summer 1986).

So now we see Rick Warren who learned from Robert Schuller who introduced Templeton. My how the circle is unbroken”   {TOP OF PAGE}

     

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Rick Warren Teams Up With Ken Blanchard!
From A Report by Lighthouse Trails Research Project

While Rick Warren is gearing up to train a billion people, unbeknownst to many he has also teamed up with New Age and contemplative promoter, Ken Blanchard. In November 2003 Rick Warren gave a sermon (I watched the video clip on his site) outlining his upcoming Global PEACE Plan and said

    "Ken [Blanchard] has signed on to help with the Peace Plan, and he's going to be helping train us in leadership and in how to train others to be leaders all around the world. In fact, he was here this week and I've asked him to just give a little video greeting"

(Incidentally the sermon in which Rick Warren introduced KB to Saddleback
has since been taken off his site.)

However The Leadership Summit 2005, convened each year at Willow Creek Community Church and hundreds of satellite sites across North America with a goal of  “making the world-class leadership training of The Leadership Summit accessible and affordable on a worldwide scale on an annual basis.”

    Almost 160,000 people have attended The Leadership Summit since its inception almost 10 years ago. And Summit 2005 will be our first global event, with more than 100 sites in North America, plus locations in 12 other countries. Only through God's grace…!  It's with great pleasure that we announce part of the 2005 speaker line-up...” (www.willownet.org/news/story.asp?id=NF01102004)

And then proceeds to name Rick Warren, Bill Hybels and Ken Blanchard. So it seems that the Warren/Blanchard partnership is alive and doing well, with Blanchard speaking to thousands of Christians around the world.
 

So What is all the fuss over Ken Blanchard about?

There is countless evidence to show that Blanchard sits on the New Age/mystical/contemplative bandwagon. While this in no way proves that Rick Warren supports or endorses either New Age beliefs or any form of Eastern Religion or Philosophy, the question still has to be asked...  What is a so called Christian leader doing in any kind of alliance with a man who so obviously promotes and believes in the benefits and use of mantra meditation, yoga and who has no trouble borrowing from Buddhism. However make NO MISTAKE. Ken Blanchard was not hired by Saddleback as a spiritual help [Thank God for small mercies]. He was hired to ‘Grow’ the church. To use efficient but worldly methods to make the church more ‘successful’. It’s business, businessmen and more business all the way. Why else would you take on a man who has been immersed in business for years, has written many books about business, who shares speaking platforms with other motivational speakers, who co-authors book with other entrepreneurs and who’s knowledge of Jesus seems to be pretty paltry. Again.. we have NOTHING against business per se, but it HAS NO PLACE IN THE CHURCH.
 

Ken Blanchard and The Secret

    On January 19, 2008, Blanchard was be one of the speakers at a one day seminar in San Diego called titled The Secret to Having Your Best Year Ever [http://www.yourbestyearever.org/] based on the occultic New Age movie The Secret.

      “The Secret is nothing more than so-called Name It-Claim It, Positive-Confession, Prosperity Theology (minus God and the Bible), built on a foundation of New Age self-deification. In other words, the book is just a secular version of what some TV preachers have taught for decades: Namely, if you will sustain the right thoughts, words and feelings, you will receive whatever you want. But The Secret adds this important twist: your thoughts can bring anything into your life because you are god””. [The Secret by Don Whitney] . [See The Secret on This Site]

    Among other goals this seminar was touted as being able to “in a single afternoon” Get healthy & stay healthy forever... Double or triple your income ...Infuse your life with positive spirituality
     

Ken Blanchard.. And Business

Additionally Ken Blanchard is about business all the way.

The Brisbane Graduate School of Business carried the following information in their 2004 Newsletter. (The same information is carried on the University of Ulster site) The conference, to be held on November 12 in the University of Ulster’s Jordanstown campus was carried to the Convention center in Brisbane via simulcast (a contraction of "simultaneous broadcast"). 

    On the event front, QUT and the BGSB have signed on to be the host university for the largest Leadership event of 2004, the worldwide simulcast titled ‘Living Leadership’. Keynote speakers via simulcast include Donald Trump, Mikhail Gorbachev, Jim Collins, Peter Drucker, Russell Simons and Ken Blanchard. This event will be on October 21 at the Convention Centre. We will keep you posted on this event. We believe this association will send strong signals about our expertise in the leadership field, but also our willingness to be involved in innovative new ways of educating the Australian business community. (Emphasis Added). (For more about Mikhail Gorbachev see Men Who Run The World and other articles in that section)

I believe this conference was carried via satellite to 95 cities around the world, with another scheduled for December 2005, which is supposed to include Bill Clinton and Madeleine Albright.
 

Among the many books Blanchard has written there does not seem to be one with a ‘Christian’ theme and certainly nothing about Jesus..  Some of his books are listed below

    The Heart of a Leader and Leadership by the Book (with Bill Hybels and Phil Hodges).
    Big Bucks! and High Five! (with Sheldon Bowles and Whale Done). 
    Whale Done! The Power of Positive Relationships (with Jim Ballard and top SeaWorld trainers Thad Lacinak and Chuck Tompkins).
    The Power of Ethical Management with Dr. Norman Vincent Peale
    Raving Fans : Revolutionary Approach to Customer Service (with Sheldon Bowles)
    Big Bucks! and High Five!  (with Sheldon Bowles, described as “a successful entrepreneur, New York Times and Business Week best selling author, and noted speaker, who turned a small manufacturing plant into a multimillion-dollar business. Sheldon now shares his hard-won knowledge of what works and what does not...”

 While Blanchard himself is characterized  as “A prominent, gregarious, sought-after author, speaker, and business consultant, he is universally characterized by friends, colleagues, and clients as one of the most insightful, powerful, and compassionate men in business today.  (premierespeakers.com. All emphasis added)
 

Ken Blanchard and Lead Like Jesus

Perhaps one of the best known programs broadcast (also called a celebration) by CCN is Lead Like Jesus, which was co-founded by Ken Blanchard and Phil Hodges in 1999.

    “After studying both the theory and practice of leadership for more than 35 years, I have found that Jesus is the greatest leadership model of all times.” Ken Blanchard [Co-founder, The Center for Faithwalk Leadership and Co-author, The One-Minute Manager]

“The stated purpose of the conferences is to help people become leaders by following the leadership habits of Jesus Christ. The purpose is not one of evangelism, but rather teaching the traits of Jesus to help others achieve personal success…” [See More]
 

Ken Blanchard’s Endorsements

Blanchard Wrote the Foreword to Franz Metcalf's What Would Buddha Do in the Workplace? ©2001.

    "I look for inspirational messages from a variety of sources besides Jesus. Our folks get to hear words of wisdom from great prophets and spiritual leaders like Buddha, Mohammed ... Yogananda and the Dalai Lama”. —Ken Blanchard, foreword

    "Buddha points to the path and invites us to begin our journey to enlightenment. I ... invite you to begin your journey to enlightened work." —Ken Blanchard, foreword

    "As a follower of Jesus I believe He is the truth and the way. So I look for my inspiration from Him as documented in the Bible. And yet, in our company we have people of all faiths as well as people who center their faith in the goodness of human beings. As a result, many of our people would delete my morning messages if they thought I was only coming from a Christian perspective. So I look for inspirational messages from a variety of sources besides Jesus. Our folk get to hear words of wisdom form great prophets and spiritual leaders like Buddha, Mohammed, Moses, Mahatma Gandhi, Yogananda, and the Dalai Lama....

    "Throughout this book, 'Buddha's insights and words help us create a kinder and gentler workplace. Jesus would approve. ...

    "Buddha points to the path and invites us to begin our journey to enlightenment.... K.B."

Additionally Ken Blanchard has either written the foreword or placed his endorsement on the front or back cover to Mind Like Water by Jim Ballard, What Would Buddha Do At Work by Frank Metcalf, The Corporate Mystic by Gay Hendricks, The 7 Spiritual Laws of Success by New Age leader Deepak Chopra, and Death and Letting Go by clairvoyant Ellen Tadd.

Ken Blanchard’s latest endorsement is of a book called In the Sphere of Silence, by Vijay Eswaran, about which he says

    “Effective leadership is more than what we do; it starts on the inside. Great leaders are able to tap inner wisdom and strength by cultivating the habit of solitude. This book is a wonderful guide on how to enter the realm of silence and draw closer to God.”]

However Vijay Eswaren says this on his site

    “The Sphere of Silence, if it is practiced properly, is a very powerful tool. It is not just oriented to any one religion, it is universally accepted and practiced by almost all faiths on the planet. It is through silence that you find your inner being”. (See Author’s Message).
     

Ken Blanchard and the 11th Element

Robert Scheinfeld is the author of a book called The 11th Element. Scheinfeld, a man who boasts of going through the AVATAR program, teaches in his books and seminars a concept that within every person is an invisible network and an inner intelligence or Inner CEO. Of this invisible network, Scheinfeld says,

    "That network links all of us together at the unconscious level and stores information on what everybody is doing all over the planet."

(The Avatar course, was written down by Harry Palmer, an educational psychologist, in 1986. He says it was created out of ‘perceived need' and that he wanted to give people tools to better handle the difficulties of life. The tools and techniques delivered in the course, he says, were IN consciousness and may have always been there, just waiting to be discovered. If it weren’t for all the people who have meditated, read about and explored consciousness, perhaps the tools would not have been discovered exactly when they were ? birthed from a floatation tank in the stillness of his own living room!.. Section 1: The journey begins in the written and spoken word. This tests the relationship of Master/Student. is there empathy and a matching of vibrations?  A Brief Description of Avatar)

Ken Blanchard makes no secret of his admiration and trust in Scheinfeld's theory. On the back cover of Scheinfeld's book, Blanchard says: "The 11th Element teaches you the valuable skill of asking for assistance from your 'Inner CEO' to improve your decision making."

Ken Blanchard and the Hoffman Quadrinity Process
From A Report by Lighthouse Trails Research Project

    The Hoffman Institute... offers The Hoffman Quadrinity Process and other programs designed for you to release the negative conditioning that has limited your life. ...more than 50,000 participants worldwide report gaining access to untapped resources of power, wisdom and creativity.". (emphasis added)

    "The SPIRITUAL SELF is the pure non-programmed, non-mediated aspect of self that is positive, pure, open presence, yearning to embody our larger, true nature in this world. Our SPIRITUAL SELF is resonating in harmony with the Universe.

Ken Blanchard is on the Board of Advisors of an organization called the Hoffman Institute (home of the Hoffman Quadrinity Process). For those of you who may wonder what exactly the Hoffman Quadrinity Process is, we turn our attention now to a 2003 book named, The Hoffman Process written by Tim Laurence, the present director of The Hoffman Institute. I don't even think words can fully describe the disturbing anti-biblical message in this book. But to see Ken Blanchard's name on the inside endorsement page nestled in between Sonia Choquette (a third generation psychic), Margot Anand (a tantric/mystic sex teacher), and staunch New Ager, Joan Borysenko, is an utter disgrace.

In both the book and the Hoffman Institute web site, Ken Blanchard states, after having taken the course himself, that: "The Hoffman Process brings forth spiritual leadership in a person. It made my spirituality come alive." (emphasis added)

Let's look at a few quotes in Tim Laurence's book to gain a perspective on the spirituality of the Hoffman Process.

    · "'I asked my friends up above. They always have the right answer," he replied, referring to his spirit guides that, as a psychic healer, he often consulted."-Tim Laurence, speaking about the Hoffman Process founder, Bob Hoffman, p.15.

    · "Many traditions around the world focus on the breath as a link to the divine. -- Indeed, it is used as the focus of the Buddhist practice called Vipassana, or 'insight meditation.'" (Also see pages 89 and 299 of Rick Warren's book, The Purpose Driven Life for his explanation of breath prayers.)

    · "You can use a short meditation to remind yourself of this connection to all others in this world of ours. - As you breathe, feel that breath coming from your core essence." p. 207.

    · "When you are open to life, you start noticing the divine in everything." p. 209.
     

InPlainSite.Org Note:I have heard the excuses made that Ken Blanchard 1) Was a very ‘young Christian’ at when he endorsed all of the above, or 2) Didn’t know better. Neither one of which holds any water. His latest escapade of participating in a seminar on The Secret took place in January 2008. In any case only a fool or hypocrite of the first order would embrace Christianity and then publicly endorse a book that claims Buddha has something to teach us.  Which begs the question.. what is Rick Warren doing signing up someone who has all the discernment of two fleas without any.
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Rick Warren and The Emerging Church

Warren obviously approves of the Emerging Church movement (although Saddleback is not a direct participant in the movement.). Rick Warren was a contributing writer to Dan Kimball’s book The Emerging Church and his web site also features the Innovative Church Conference saying

     “The 2003 Innovative Church Conference will feature Brian McLaren, founding pastor of Cedar Ridge Community Church in the Washington, D.C. area. Brian is a prominent voice on postmodern thinking and church growth. He is also the author of several books including The Church on the Other Side and the revolutionary book, A New Kind of Christian”.

[Also See Warren and McLaren and  Warren and Kimball]

Therefore one assumes, in light of Rick Warren’s written endorsements of the two men and their books, that he has, to all intents and purposes, read (over and above the parts he authored) The Emerging Church by Kimball and, at the very least, The Church on the Other Side and A New Kind of Christian” by McLaren that he speaks of on his site. One has to further presume he is familiar with their beliefs. So what do the leaders of the Emergent Church Think, Believe and Recommend

    Spencer Burke promotes contemplative and emergent philosophies, and is considered to be one of the more popular emerging church ministries. And yet, evangelical leaders such as Rick Warren, given their endorsement of the Ooze. Of the Ooze, Rick Warren states that The Ooze website is, "one of the best online communities related to post-modern ministry." (Source Source) This means that pastors around the world will likely recognize the Ooze as a trusted source for spirituality. [From Lighthouse Trails research]

      "I stopped reading from the approved evangelical reading list and began to distance myself from the evangelical agenda. I discovered new authors and new voices at the bookstore-Thomas Merton, Henri Nouwen and St. Teresa of Avila. The more I read, the more intrigued I became. Contemplative spirituality seemed to open up a whole new way for me to understand and experience God. I was deeply moved by works like The Cloud of Unknowing, The Dark Night of the Soul and the Early Writings of the Desert Fathers." —Spencer Burke, The Ooze [Source]

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Rick Warren and Catalyst