Worth Thinking About

By Ingrid Schlueter Posted: 01/29/2008 on Christian Worldview Network

Rick Warren at National Cathedral: Mainline and Evangelical Churches Should Reconcile

All of you Christians who thought that the divinity of Christ, the Virgin birth, the penal substitutionary atonement, the literal resurrection of Jesus, and the inerrancy and authority of Scripture are doctrines worth dying for are apparently wrong. The Christian Post reports that Rick Warren is calling on evangelicals to reconcile with mainline churches to stop the mainline churches from dying. Let me repeat that line: Rick Warren is calling on evangelicals to reconcile with mainline churches to stop the mainline churches from dying. Wow.

“The reconciliation is that in a pluralistic world…we (Christians) need to be on the same team because we share the same savior,” Warren contended Sunday, as he spoke with the dean of the Washington National Cathedral, Samuel T. Lloyd III, who observed that evangelical churches are thriving and full of vitality, while most mainline denominations are confronting worrisome membership decline.

During the Cathedral’s weekly Sunday Forum: Critical Issues in the Light of Faith, Lloyd asked Warren how mainlines should tackle the problem.

So there Warren sits, with the dean of the nation’s top apostate episcopal church, (which regularly features New Spirituality teachers and which teaches that homosexuality is A-OK) telling the world that we all worship the same Savior. Rick Warren apparently wants evangelicals to reconcile with mainline episcopal churches like the one in Seattle where the female pastor cleverly managed to become a Muslim while still retaining her clergy credentials. Rick Warren doesn’t want to see mainline churches like this die so he wants evangelicals to link arms to save them. Then there's the mainline ELCA church called Her Church, which uses goddess rosaries and has the congregants pray, “Our Mother, who is within us, we celebrate your many names...” Reconciliation, fellow Christians?

Rick Warren characterizes the rift between mainline and evangelical like this:

“100 years ago the phrase ‘social gospel’ first came out,” Warren responded. “Some people took that to mean only if we reform the social government and society and not personal faith in Christ Jesus – that is, if we make the world a better place – we don’t need personal redemption.”

That idea led to mainline churches going “one way” and evangelical churches another way, he said.

Uh, Mr. Warren, aren’t you forgetting something? How about those troublesome issues of cardinal doctrine? When you were training to be a pastor, didn't they teach you about the fall of Princeton Seminary and the others that followed all those years ago? Did you ever hear of the battle over the authority of Scripture, or did your seminary professors keep you too busy with church growth classes? Did you ever hear of modernism and higher criticism that gutted these churches in the last century, Mr. Warren, or were you too occupied at the Crystal Cathedral sitting at the feet of Robert Schuller? The battle that divided mainline from evangelical in the last century wasn't a case of one Christian group going in one direction to serve the poor and the other group of Christians choosing to preach about redemption. (Mr. Warren asserts that if we can just join up with the other side, all the bases will be covered.) The issues were black on white, truth against error, the Gospel versus another gospel that was contrary to Scripture. What was at stake was no less than the millions of souls under the care of these apostate, liberal denominations. That is still what is at stake.

Rick Warren’s presence in the pulpit of National Cathedral on January 27, and his call for “reconciliation” with such churches should disgust every Christian who believes in the authority of Holy Scripture and who understands the critical importance of the foundational doctrines of the Christian faith. National Cathedral is a New Age pantheon to the gods of the world religions. That's why the church can feature goddess theology proponents teaching women how to dance in “sacred circles”, welcome the worship of Tibetan monks, teach Buddhist meditation techniques and introduce attendees to the Jewish Kabbalah. Where is Rick Warren's concern about the people who are on their way to hell in these churches that blaspheme the Lord Jesus Christ with goddess worship, homosexuality, a rejection of Christ’s penal substitutionary atonement, a denial of the authority of Scripture, and the promotion of the doctrines of anti-Christ?

I have news for Rick Warren and the dean of National Cathedral. Most mainline churches aren’t dying, they’re already dead, and increasingly apostate evangelical leaders like Rick Warren aren't going to change that. Real life in a church comes, not with thousands streaming through the door, but with the true knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ as revealed in the Bible. Such knowledge is impossible in churches where the Gospel message is absent and lies are preached in its place. Influential fellow Southern Baptists like Dr. Al Mohler and anyone else who loves biblical truth must speak out against Mr. Warren’s apostasy. This is the battle for truth in our time. To remain silent on this is treason against the Lord and His church.

And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. –II Corinthians 6:16-18

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