What's the Point of Billy Graham's Ministry? "God Has a Dream for You" Says Rick Warren
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Recently, Saddleback Church had a service where Rick Warren was teaching the importance of "choosing the right team for your dream." Mention was made of Billy Graham's ministry, since he had just recently died. After the last video montage about Billy Graham played, Rick Warren told his audience the importance of "fulfilling your dream-just like Billy Graham." After just a minute of his pep talk, he tells everyone to listen to message of the next song. The worship team then performs the pop song "This Is Me," which Billboard Magazine describes as: "a beautifully uplifting tribute to self-acceptance and self-love." Here are some of the lyrics:
“I won’t let them break me down to dust
I know that there’s a place for us
For we are glorious
When the sharpest words wanna cut me down
I’m gonna send a flood, gonna drown them out
I am brave, I am bruised
I am who I’m meant to be, this is me
Look out ‘cause here I come
And I’m marching on to the beat I drum
I’m not scared to be seen
I make no apologies, this is me”
This bizarre combination of a Billy Graham tribute and a self-exalting secular song is a difficult and painful thing to watch. After the song ends, Rick Warren takes the mic and tearfully pleads with the audience to not waste their lives, and warns them not to live for the approval of others.
Wait, is this a church service... or the plot of every Disney film from the past twenty years?
Watch this edited version from the Saddleback Facebook page at your own risk:
Rick Warren also does his incredibly weak version of an "alter call" and suggests that people need to "accept Jesus" if they are to accomplish their dreams.
There is NO Gospel message here. This is a truly saddening pep rally of feel-good catch-phrases that belongs in an Amway rally from 1993.
It sounds like Warren listened to this episode of Fighting for the Faith and did the exact opposite of everything that was said: How NOT to Shipwreck Your Faith
Rick Warren is a leader of the seeker-friendly takeover of Evangelicalism: The Seeker-Friendly, Purpose-Driven Cornucopia of False Doctrine
This article by Steven Kozar; check out his new and improved: The Messed Up Church website!