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Rick Warren’s Peace Plan
Prof. Johan Malan, Middelburg, South Africa (Oct. 2006)
This article contains a short summary of James Sundquist’s book, Rick
Warren’s PEACE Plan versus Scriptural Teachings on Peace (published in 2006 by
Rock Salt Publishing; printed book version published by Bible Belt Publishing,
Southwest Radio Church, http://www.swrc.com/offers/internet_0205.htm#h001 ). The
entire text of the book can be read by opening the following link: http://www.abrahamic-faith.com/James/Global%20PEACE%20Plan.pdf.
The author kindly gave permission for the posting of this summary, which was
compiled by Prof. Johan Malan of www.bibleguidance.co.za in South Africa. The
information is vitally important in the light of the millions of believers in
Africa who, like those elsewhere in the world, are deceived by Warren’s
unscriptural Purpose Driven Life and his global PEACE Plan. Page numbers in the
article refer to the above-mentioned book by James Sundquist. The summary is
offered after an introductory discussion on the dangers of the humanistic
ideology of positive thinking. Conclusions by the reviewer have been added at
the end.
Positive thinking
When reading Rick Warren’s material on the purpose-driven life and his global
PEACE plan, it soon becomes evident that the secret of his success in
influencing millions of believers and unbelievers in the world is his clever mix
of humanitarian and biblical objectives, and their presentation within the
framework of positive thinking. It appeals to governments, businessmen, churches
and communities at large, whether secular or religiously oriented, to uplift
society, eradicate poverty, treat the sick, educate the illiterate, and promote
peace and reconciliation among all factions of society. His 40-day
purpose-driven program is presented as a tool towards unlocking and developing
the potential of all people, thereby enabling them to lead a fulfilling life and
enjoying the full measure of God’s blessings. In this regard, Warren
follows an approach that was refined and used very successfully by Norman
Vincent Peale (cf. The Power of Positive Thinking) and Robert Schuller (cf.
Self-Esteem: The New Reformation). The approach of positive thinking, by its
very nature, excludes all negative thoughts, e.g. sin, judgment, deception,
false prophets, false religions, the Antichrist, the False Prophet, Satan,
suffering, tribulation, etc. It refrains from giving offense to anybody – not
even to the sinner in his natural (sinful) state. All people must be made to
feel welcome just as they are, and to accept Christianity for the sake of the
advantages and blessings that are in store for them. No warnings are issued to
any people on the basis of God’s impending judgments upon the wicked.
An approach of this nature is far removed from the message of the Bible,
which is always presented to us in an antithetic way. Spiritually and morally,
we are consistently confronted by two realties which force us to make
fundamental choices. There are many expressions of these opposites, e.g. the
kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan, the narrow way and the broad way, truth
and deception, light and darkness, righteousness and sin, the only true religion
and all the false religions. All people are born as sinners with a fallen,
sinful nature; consequently, they need to repent and make a transition from
spiritual and moral darkness to the light and righteousness of God’s kingdom.
However, to be born again into a new life, atonement needs to be done for our
sins. That was done by the Lord Jesus when He shed His blood on the cross for
the sins of the whole world. “The chastisement [God’s judgment] for our peace
was upon Him” (Isa. 53:5). There is no way in which we can truthfully present
the Christian soteriology (doctrine of salvation) without referring to the
consequences of Satan’s deception, God’s judgment upon sin and Christ’s atoning
death.
But these connotations are willfully avoided by the exponents of positive
thinking as they simply do not dwell on “negative” thoughts. They can hardly
account for evil and find it difficult to define the concept. They would still
entertain the idea of sin with reference to general “human weaknesses” but not
outright wickedness. They would, for instance, describe a wicked ruler only as
an egocentric ruler – as if he/she has a psychological rather than a spiritual
problem.
Christian leaders who subscribe to the principles of positive thinking will
refrain from calling lost people sinners who are under the judgments of God,
they will not see evil in depraved, worldly practices such as rock music, they
will hardly condemn the evil practices of people, they will disregard the devil
and his evil devices in deceiving people, they will keep quiet about the widely
prevalent phenomenon of religious deception, and they will not proclaim the
judgments of God that will be poured out during the coming Day of the Lord. They
prefer to say, “Peace and safety...” They even shy away from the idea of “fear”
in our relationship with God, as it sounds too negative. Rick Warren rejects the
notion of fearing the Lord and says that our relationship with Him is only
governed by love. But fear refers to respect for God and His ordinances. In this
regard it has a positive meaning. The demands of positive thinking are also to
be blamed for the fact that no mention is made of the cross, of sin and of
repentance.
Because of these factors, such preachers succeed in even deceiving true
believers who do not always have good discernment on religious matters. Most
people react in a very positive way when they read about the blessings that God
wants to bestow upon them. They would indeed like to live in a world in which
society can be transformed in such a way that conflicts and suffering are
overcome and eradicated. It is an appealing idea that all human beings can live
together peacefully by joining hands and stop condemning one another because of
their differences. In this frame of mind, they fix their thoughts on an unreal
utopia on earth – something that they nevertheless try to achieve through
concerted human efforts. To them, that will be the realization of God’s kingdom
on earth before the second coming of Christ. For this reason, they regard the
Purpose Driven campaign as highly divine and God-given.
But what about the reality of evil which they blatantly disregard in their
paradigm? How can a person appreciate God’s way of salvation for sinners without
explicitly relating Christ’s death to divine wrath upon all sinners? How will
believers be able to stand against the wiles of the devil if they are uninformed
on his plans to attack and oppose them? Will they ever be able to discern the
devil when he approaches them as an angel of light in the guise of a false
prophet to deceive them spiritually? How will they come to realize their
responsibility to watch and pray always that they may be worthy to escape God’s
wrath during the coming tribulation period? (cf. Luke 21:36). When there is
nothing negative to focus on, then even the positive aspects of the Bible cannot
be fully understood and appreciated in their right context.
The contrasting situation must always be taken account of because we live in
a world that lies under the sway of the Wicked One (1 John 5:19). We are engaged
in a spiritual battle and must put on the full armor of God if we wish to stand
against the wiles of the devil (Eph. 6:10-11). Paul says we must “fight the good
fight of faith,” while laying hold on eternal life (1 Tim. 6:12). The full
blessings of God’s kingdom will only be imparted to us after Christ has come. To
demand these blessings now, amounts to human efforts to take dominion of “the
present evil world” (Gal. 1:4) and to establish the kingdom now. That is exactly
what Rick Warren is intent on doing.
Ricks narrow thinking
Rick’s global strategy of social engineering is explained by the acronym
PEACE: Plant churches (P), Equip leaders (E), Assist the poor (A), Care for the
sick (C), and Educate the next generation (E). He intends to mobilize hundreds
of thousands of small groups that have done the 40 days of purpose in their
churches. Within this strategy, no reference is made to counter negative, evil
forces that are at work in society. The reason for this serious omission is his
personal commitment to positive thinking, which was also used to filter out
statements about negative topics from the Bible by simply ignoring them as if
they do not exist. He also jumps around between various Bible translations until
he finds the emphasis that he is looking for.
In the book under review, James Sundquist says, “Warren’s PEACE plan is not
so much what it contains, but what it does not contain. There is no mention of
our spiritual adversary in spiritual warfare. There is no mention of the Holy
Spirit in his global PEACE plan... Where is the prince of the power of the air
from Scripture, which any biblical peace plan must take into account? ... ‘For
we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against
powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual
wickedness in high places’... Warren’s plan implies we can simply restore the
earth to its Garden of Eden status before Christ returns, but no temporal
worldwide peace plan can ultimately succeed until these principalities are
conquered and defeated. This will be done by Jesus Christ Himself on the Day of
the Lord, when His enemies will be destroyed at the brightness of His second
coming. Where are the principalities in Rick Warren’s PEACE plan?” (p. 19-20).
The most serious consequence of Rick Warren’s narrow thinking is the omission
of the significance of Christ’s blood as the atonement for our sins – it is not
mentioned in his PEACE plan (p. 22). Paul says, “Without shedding of blood there
is no remission” (Heb. 9:22).
Godly and worldly peace
The book by James Sundquist makes it very clear that Warren pursues a form of
peace that is essentially of this world: “Rick Warren’s global PEACE plan is
peace as the world knows it. The world loves his PEACE plan because it
prescribes a peaceful kingdom now for the earth rather than ‘Thy kingdom come’
(when Christ returns). Warren seeks to prepare a place for us that where we are,
Jesus may be also. But Jesus has gone to heaven to prepare a place for us that
where He is, we may be also” (p. 23).
The peace of Christ is not of this world (John 14:27). As for the present
dispensation, He gives us a sword to contend for the truth (Matt. 10:34; cf.
Luke 12:51). We should actively oppose the spirit of error that works through
this evil world (1 John 4:5-6). The world is heading for sudden destruction
under the rule of the Antichrist, rather than lasting peace (1 Thess. 5:3). The
world hates true Christians because worldly-minded people flatly refuse to
comply with all the demands of God’s Word (p. 23).
Kingdom-now theology
The blessings of the future kingdom of God that will be revealed on earth are
wrongly applied to the present dispensation by Rick Warren. That accounts for
his distorted ideas that Christianity has the potential, the capacity and a
mandate to establish God’s kingdom on earth. He completely lost sight of the
fact that the King of kings has not yet come and that His enemies under the
leadership of Satan have not yet been defeated and removed from their positions
of power. Despite these humanly insurmountable problems he disregards biblical
prophecies on the coming tribulation period under the leadership of the
Antichrist and still attempts to establish God’s kingdom of righteousness,
peace, prosperity, and harmony on earth:
“Rick Warren’s global PEACE plan is a dominionist, ‘Kingdom Now’ peace plan.
He completely turns eschatology upside down... His PEACE plan contains no plan
for destroying the Antichrist and the False Prophet, and for binding Satan... If
Warren’s plan succeeds, it will leave most of the population on earth intact,
without the wrath of the Lamb... When the Lord returns, He will first make a
global war before He inaugurates His global peace plan, better known as the
millennial thousand-year reign of Christ” (p. 24-25).
After the destruction of the enemy forces by Christ during His coming (Rev.
19:19-21) Israel will also be fully restored when God’s kingdom is revealed: “We
are instructed in the Lord’s Prayer to pray, ‘Thy kingdom come.’ Rick Warren
promises us kingdom now. Jesus Christ told us that the time when He will set up
His kingdom on earth is determined by the Father. Jesus Christ’s global kingdom
of peace cannot be set up until He restores the kingdom of Israel when He
returns. Jerusalem will be the capital of the world, and Israel will be the
preeminent nation on earth. It will not be determined by Rick Warren” (p. 27).
Ecumenical army
The introduction of Warren’s PEACE plan is based upon an ecumenical alliance
with all Christian churches, despite the fact that many of them may only be
nominally Christian with no clear doctrine of salvation. Catholics, for
instance, are equally welcome in his purpose-driven army that will be mandated
to implement his PEACE plan all over the world: “Rick Warren expects to
train and lead a billion-man Christian army” (p. 36). But there are not that
many true Christians on earth. Furthermore, Warren’s global PEACE plan contains
no enforcement clause or declaration of who will enforce it, whereas in Jesus
Christ’s worldwide peace plan, Jesus Himself will rule with a rod of iron (Rev.
19:15). Only then, and not before the time, His glorified church will be
empowered to rule with Him (Rev. 2:25-27).
Through his PEACE plan, Rick plans to confront and obliterate the five giants
of spiritual emptiness, egocentric leadership, extreme poverty, pandemic
diseases, and illiteracy. He calls his campaign a New Reformation (p. 37).
“In promoting his plan, Warren is redefining the mission of the church. His idea
is that we are to wipe out world problems and make the world a better place to
live before Christ returns. His program screams of dominionist theology which
teaches that Christ can’t return until the church takes over the earth. And his
billion-man army reminds me of two other ‘army’ movements in the name of Jesus:
the Army of Joel and the Manifest Sons of God, both of which promote false
teachings; they think the Lord has given them a mandate to take over the earth
for Jesus so that He can return” (p. 38).
Financial arrangements
This book also has a chapter on Rick Warren’s finances, in which the author
indicates that Rick would need vast financial resources to implement his plan.
Big sums of money are already changing hands within his organization, but that
is a drop in the bucket compared to what will be needed for global
transformation (p. 41-45).
Israel
In a chapter on Israel, Rick Warren’s intentions are described to sign a
covenant with Israel and convert them into a purpose-driven country. His book
will be published in Hebrew by MAOZ (p. 46-48).
Muslims
Rick Warren made the startling statement that the participants in his PEACE
plan could also be Muslims if they are leaders of villages that need to be
transformed. This dangerous form of compromise is evidently derived from the
fact that Jesus is also recognized by the Koran. But that is not the Jesus that
we as Christians believe in: “The fact remains, Islam has a different Jesus, a
different Gabriel, a different comforter, and a different peace plan. Yet Rick
Warren is willing to form alliances with Muslims to implement his global PEACE
plan.” The author presents a long list of comparisons between the Jesus of the
Bible and the false Jesus of the Koran (p. 49-55).
Unbiblical objectives
In a long chapter, the characteristics of the purpose-driven country are
discussed, from which it is very clear that Rick Warren’s principles and
objectives are at variance with the Bible (p. 65-104). In a following chapter,
Alliances, his strange companions, also from the New Age Movement, are mentioned
(p. 105-112).
Conclusions
The purpose-driven movement and its congruent global PEACE plan constitute
one of the biggest dangers to the end-time church of Jesus Christ. In a
calculated way, the truth of God’s Word is sacrificed on the altar of unity,
peace and prosperity in a problem-ridden world. The objectives of unity in
communities divided by bitter conflicts, peace on earth in the midst of
widespread animosity, and prosperity for all those who suffer in various ways,
appear to be so noble and Bible-based that they enjoy the blind support of
millions of naive believers. They are seen as a much needed strategy for
survival amid rising fears of a major global conflict which is in the offing.
What most people don’t realize is that the biggest threat to the truth is
distorted ideas and principles that are so close to the truth that most
believers would not recognize their deceptive influence and be easily led astray
by them. The biggest single problem with Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Life is
not what he said in the book but what he didn’t say. Because of his commitment
to positive thinking he omitted everything that has a negative connotation –
including sin, judgment, the cross and blood of Christ, Satan, false prophets,
religious deception, etc. The result is a positivistic discussion of the great
blessings that God has in store for every believer while fulfilling his/her full
human potential. This might be a winning recipe for popularity, fame and rapid
church growth but, sadly, it ends up in lives being built upon the sand of human
reforms that are social and psychological in nature rather than spiritual. These
man-made reforms are not be confused with the spiritual blessings of God.
Rick Warren’s global PEACE plan is also presented as part and parcel of God’s
kingdom on earth, but it has socio-economic rather than spiritual objectives, it
is clearly not driven by the Holy Spirit but by human efforts, and it is
dispensationally completely out of place. The very first objective of his plan,
i.e. Plant churches, seems to have been substituted by Participation. The
Participation of local religious leaders, whether Protestant, Catholic,
independent or Muslim, is secured for the purpose of social transformation. The
rest of the plan is devoid of religious content. That is the reason why human
skills are employed, rather than trusting the Holy Spirit to work in the hearts
and minds of people. As far as the revelation of God’s kingdom is
concerned, the PEACE plan completely ignores biblical eschatology which teaches
that the kingdom of God which is at present hidden (i.e. not of this world) will
only be revealed when Christ the King comes to finally defeat His enemies, have
Satan bound in a bottomless pit, and rule the world from the restored throne of
David in Jerusalem (Acts 15:16-17; Jer. 3:17).
The only world empire that will be established before this time will be that
of the Antichrist. During his reign, the world will be united. John says,
“...and all the world wondered after the beast... and power was given him over
all kindreds, and tongues and nations” (Rev. 13:3,7). He will also unite the
world’s religions so that they will accept and worship him as their common
messiah: “And... they worshipped the beast, saying, who is like unto the beast?”
(Rev. 13:4). For a short while this false, man-made unity will give the
impression that peace has been achieved and safety is secured. But then, this
ideology and its structures will suddenly collapse and make way for a great
tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time (Matt.
24:21). Paul says, “For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden
destruction cometh upon them... and they shall not escape” (1 Thess. 5:3).
At present, all true believers only have one course of action, and that is to
stand firm for the Lord and His kingdom in a time of great falling away around
us. We must shine as lights in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation
(Phil. 2:15). Jesus Christ said, with specific reference to this time, “Take
heed that no man deceive you” (Matt. 24:4). Paul says that “the time will come
when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they
heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their
ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables” (2 Tim. 4:3-4).
The popular (and well paid) preachers of the end-time are those who proclaim
fables (i.e false statements, or things not based on facts). Positive thinking
in a religious context, which entertains a doctrine of salvation without
specific reference to the shedding of Christ’s blood on the cross, is one of
these fables which people would like to hear. It renders salvation very easy,
without emphasizing repentance and counting the cost of dying to the world.
Another fable is that the kingdom of God may be realized now by human efforts.
That means that man can determine his own destiny here on earth. Distorted views
of this nature account for a widespread falling away from the truth of the
Bible.
The apostatizing of our time does not only occur in the moral sphere but also
in the socio-political and religious spheres. Global structures are prepared for
a new world order of political, economic and religious unity. When these
structures are in place and Christ has removed His true church, the Antichrist
will gain control over these structures and rule the entire world from them. He
will be a false prince of peace before becoming a military dictator in the
middle of the tribulation period.
We are either contending for the faith against the rising tide of deception and
antichristian reforms, or we are fellow builders of the emerging new word order,
which will be a modern tower of Babel erected by a deceived and united humanity.
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