TODD HUDNALL, SR. PASTOR, FIRST ASSEMBLY OF GOD OF SAN DIEGO

PRESENTATION OF RICK WARREN'S PDC

TO NAIROBI  PENTECOSTAL CHURCH

NAIROBI, KENYA

NOVEMBER 8-11, 2005

WITH COMMENTARY BY JAMES SUNDQUIST

& CONTRIBUTING EDITOR AND COMMENTARY BY PASTOR BOB DEWAAY

Upon receiving many emails around the world from concerned Christians that their church or country is being taking over or “transformed” by Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Church model and his Global Peace Plan, and others asking me how does one know their own church has become Purpose-Driven, I felt compelled to write this article in response to these distress SOS calls for help.   There is a recent article posted on this very transformation and how to identify it entitled: Are you in the throes of Transformation? http://herescope.blogspot.com/

 

The article was so brilliant, I decided that it would be very constructive to the body of Christ to build on that very theme as well as clear up a lot of confusion.  What follows is both an update and a case study of how Rick Warren is taking over churches and countries.  One of the main presentations of Warren's Saddleback Church staff was given by Todd Hudnall, who is also Senior Pastor of the First Assembly of God Church (see Appendix C) in San Diego, California, who will also be a featured speaker at the Purpose Driven Conference in Florida in April 2006:  http://www.purposedriven.com/en-US/Events/PurposeDrivenPentecostalCharismatic-LakeForestCA/Uncompromised_speakers.htm

 

Excerpts from the Purpose Driven Church Conference:

 

TODD HUDNALL:

In behalf of Rick Warren...

 

The message we are sharing you could call an operating system for the church.  Without the Intel chip, the computer would not work.  I believe that the Purpose Driven Church model is a processing chip for the Church of Jesus Christ.  I believe it works whether it is in San Diego, California, or Kenya Africa.  It works because it is God's purpose.  It is God's plan....And what God has done through Dr. Rick Warren is provide a model which we can fulfill those purposes and become the prevailing church that God wants us to be....This message is very Biblical.

 

RESPONSE:

Well this message is very much NOT Biblical.  The operating system for the church is not an object.  It is a Person...the Person of Jesus Christ and the Person of the Holy Spirit (who will lead you in all truth).  Jesus Christ is the author and finisher of our salvation whether in the First Century or the 21^st Century.  Jesus did not say apart from a computer chip you can not operate but he said “apart from ME you can do nothing!”  So Hudnall's and Warren's premise is fatally flawed.  And even if the operating system for the church is an Intel Chip, computers didn't even exist in the church for nineteen hundred years.  So how did the church function all of these years without this chip?  How did the church function before this chip? According to so-called "post-moderns' and PDCer's, it didn't.  The old model (the Biblical "preaching Jesus Christ," repentance, being born again, warning of coming judgment, Hell) is a dismal failure. What audacity to proclaim that Rick Warren's method holds the key that throughout the ages the church has missed. Maybe this is why they are so intent on re-writing the Bible and promoting perverse translations of it!

 

 

At the end of this conference Hudnall changed the definition from “a processing chip” to the processing chip or model for the 21^st Century Church.  This boastful statement means that every church which does not have Rick Warren's purpose-driven model is outside of God's plan.  If you don't go along with it, they claim they will try to help you find another church you are happy with.  But why would you want to do that, if in so doing you would by conclusion be OUTSIDE of God's Plan.  There are a great number of accounts in which there is not even another local church to send them packing to because all the surrounding churches too have become purpose-driven.  And even if the analogy of the “Intel Chip” were true...that the operating system for the church must be run by this chip, then the chip is defective because it would recognize that the model would not work in a computer which was a synagogue or Roman Catholic church because these are another gospel.  This operating system which they claim “is God's plan” fails to recognize the Apostle Paul's own words that “I have not failed to give you the WHOLE counsel of God.”  Apparently not, since Paul forgot to supply us with the counsel of Warren's Purpose-Driven model.

 

PASTOR BOB DEWAAY'S COMMENTS:

 

1)      Pastor Hudnall makes a very bold claim--that Rick Warren has invented a new operating system for the church. With computers, the operating system is the most essential part of the computer. Take out the CPU chip and the computer is dead and worthless. Can we believe that the Church itself is dead and worthless without Warren’s plan?

 

2)      How can a program (PDC) not invented until the 20^th century have such a key role? Without the operating system the computer is dead. Does this mean every church that existed since the Day of Pentecost was dead? If not, then evidently these churches had something analogous to an operating system before. So what was the previous operating system that is being removed and replaced with the PDC one? The speech in question does not tell us what that old CPU was that has to go. If they cannot answer these questions, their claims should be dismissed.

 

3)      Biblically what is most analogous to an operating system in a computer is Jesus Christ as the head of the church and the Holy Spirit as the life of the church. Either PDC is removing these to replace them with the new processor or PDC is not really a new operating system and they are making a false claim to say that it is.

 

4)      The speech in questions uses the terms “God’s plan” and “Purpose Driven” synonymously. In logic this is called “begging the question.” Why should we have to accept the idea the Purpose Driven is indeed God’s plan before we have heard any evidence that it is? They claim too much for a man-made program.

 

5)      They would have to admit that the Purpose Driven model did not exist during the New Testament. It is up to them to prove that what they are doing is able to improve on the teachings and practices of the New Testament, without compromising them. They fail to prove this and there is much evidence that they do compromise those teachings.

 

 

 

TODD HUDNALL:

....Back 1992 I became acquainted with Dr. Warren and his Saddleback model for the Purpose Driven Churches, and heard what God was doing at Saddleback.  At that time I was looking for answers.  And when I saw this model, I said this is God's plan.  This allows us to fulfill what God wants us to fulfill for his church.

 

So I brought this model to our church we begin to the church and we begin to see  immediate church growth, of consistently seeing 20% growth every year.  Let me say that percentage is a good percentage.  When you get much faster than 20% it is difficult to keep up with the growth.  You can do it.  But it becomes very difficult. Signs and wonders and miracles begin to happen.

 

I have seen revival, but I have seen revivals actually damages churches over time because they lose their focus, they lose their purpose.  They begin to see the move of God as something for them...to help them fulfill their agenda.

 

RESPONSE:

The fact remains that Rick Warren does have an agenda, that is his personal blueprint for the earth.

 

PASTOR BOB DEWAAY'S COMMENTS:

Again the speaker (Hudnall) is begging the question. That he THINKS/THOUGHT that it is God’s plan does not prove that it is. That his church grew and there were signs and wonders does not prove this was from God. False religions grow and have signs and wonders. What he does not prove is that the Purpose Driven model is taught in the New Testament. He is appealing to personal experience rather than scripture. We need to consult the Bible for the appropriate agenda.

 

TODD HUDNALL:

I believe God wants to bring a revival to Kenya, but there needs to be a way to handle it.  You can not pour new wine into old wineskins.  We've got to have a wineskin that the Holy Spirit can use...that can contain the revival that God wants to bring.  So I believe that the Purpose-Driven model is such a wineskin.

 

RESPONSE:

Once again, Warren's PDC program redefines the Scriptural meaning of words.  The old wineskins referred to by Jesus Christ himself were the Old Covenant and the Traditions of the scribes and Pharisees...the religious leaders in Israel.  The new wineskins in Scripture refers to the New Covenant.  There is no replacing the new covenant.  According to Hudnall's logic the church which functions as the new covenant must be replaced by another new covenant or new wineskin.   Rick Warren has convinced millions of people that the church that must be transformed.  Warren's reformation reverses the first Reformation and insults the church at large which has been persecuted and martyred throughout this present age which somehow mistakenly thought it was carrying out the “deeds” of the New Covenant.  Rick Warren has usurped the authorship of the new wineskin.  Purpose Driven Church is a man-made invention of Rick Warren, therefore it is impossible that it could be a new wineskin.  The church does not need a wineskin that the Holy Spirit can use (as though up until Rick Warren came along, it did not already have wineskins that the Holy Spirit could use since the foundation of the church)! In fact, in reality Hudnall and Warren have replaced the New Covenant (new wineskin) with much of the SAME old wineskin of the Old Covenant and Traditions of men, putting unnecessary burdens on Christians and stealing away their liberty in Christ.  Rick Warren and Todd Hudnall need to read the seven woes that Christ laid on the Pharisees and scribes (see Matthew 23:13-29) as well as the first chapter of Galatians before they continue to put Christians right back under bondage. The old wineskin was Rabbinic Judaism and the Old Covenant practices. The new wineskin is Messianic salvation and the church build on the rock that the gates of Hell will not prevail against. What the gates of Hell can't prevail against does not need replacing (with a new wineskin).  Judaism as it was would not be able to hold what God was doing such as in Acts.  The claim that some man-made movement that did not exist until the 20^th century is what Jesus meant by “new wineskins” is indefensible Biblically. The new wineskin has existed since Pentecost and it will never become the “old wineskin” until Jesus returns and sets up the kingdom. This shows that bad theology and bad Biblical exegesis is common practice in PDC.

 

TODD HUDNALL:

You are to reach that community and bring the community in to become part of the crowd, then after they become part of the crowd, then after you bring them in to be part of the crowd ...you bring them and make them be part of your congregation, then they become committed in growing in Christ, finally they become your core people for ministry...turning them into an army making them part of your core...your center.

 

RESPONSE:

This model is found nowhere in Scripture and in fact is backwards regarding the order.  Seek he FIRST the Kingdom of God.  Seek the light (His Word) and he will supply the fellowship or community.

 

PASTOR BOB DEWAAY'S COMMENTS:

This is the fundamental error of the seeker movement. The Lord adds people to the church through saving them (Acts 2:47). The “crowd” is outside of the church and should be the subject of gospel preaching, not trying to change the church to make it attractive to the unregenerate mind.

 

TODD HUDNALL:

 

BUILDING YOUR CONGREGATION...(Outer Circle)

Concept of membership is very biblical.  It is taught all the way through the New Testament.

In First Corinthians Chapter 12, it tells us that the Holy Spirit takes us when we receive Jesus Christ and plunges us into the Body of Christ...In First Corinthian 13...you may be eyes, you may be ears you may be nose...

 

'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me'.  Saul could have said I'm not persecuting you, I'm persecuting the church.  Jesus is saying if you persecute the church you are persecuting the body and that is me. ... We need to belong to the church family.  Ephesian Chapter 2, Verse 19 says this: 'Now you are no longer strangers to God and foreigners to Heaven, but you are members of God's very own family.'  And you belong to God's household with every other Christian.  Notice we are members of his Body.  Membership is biblical.  Romans 12:5 says this: 'In Christ, we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.'

 

Now it is important that we explain the benefits of membership, the value of membership and the importance of membership.  So when people come to your church you want to let them know that they can become a member.  And when people join, it gives them significance, it gives them meaning, it gives them purpose, it gives them connection and it gives them community...Church membership is really a step of spiritual maturity... How you do it is you create a climate where people want to join.  Now there are two things that people crave most.  People want love and people want acceptance.  All of us want that.  We were designed to desire that.  We want to be loved and accepted; WE crave that....And those are the two things that Jesus commanded us to demonstrate.  In John 13:35, Jesus said this: 'By this you shall all men know that you are my disciples that you love one another.'  The church is to show people that come to it love!  Romans 15:7 says 'accept one another just as Christ has accepted you'.  We are to accept people that come in to our church just as Jesus accepted us...

 

Now in American there is a stereotype some have of the church of it being judgmental, of it being critical, of it being condemning.  The church should never have that kind of reputation.  The church should be loving and accepting to people.  Now here is a fact you need to know: 'Growing churches love, and loving churches grow.'... 

 

RESPONSE:

Read God's Word. It is judgmental, critical, and condemning to those who are in rebellion, not born again, living according to their own plans.  Biblical churches might shrink!  The Mormon church is loving and the Mormon Church is growing.

 

PASTOR BOB DEWAAY'S COMMENTS:

Again there is a purposeful erasing the boundary between the church and the world. He fails to distinguish between membership in a 501 c 3 corporation (local organization that people join) and membership in the body of Christ which happens through conversion. The passages he cites have to do with the type of relationships true believers have with one another. But in the PDC model, they integrate the regenerate and unregenerate and confuse the unity of the corporation with the true unity through the gospel that true believers have. That God is loving is true. That we should be loving is true. But for the unregenerate to be converted, they must be convinced they are law breakers abiding under God’s wrath unless they repent. Telling them these truths is loving. The idea that we will “woo” sinners into the church by being nice people; all the while failing to tell them of the peril they are in as sinners is not Biblical.

 

TODD HUDNALL:

Church growth expert Wynn Arndt...he did a study of 10,000 church members all over America and rated them according to friendliness.  And after he did the rating, he found that in every single denomination,  the friendliest, they were the fastest growing.  And those that were considered friendly, weren't growing...And if you want people to be a part of your church, you have to create a climate of love and acceptance.   Now the single most important factor that causes people to stay in your churches is relationships...People will come to your church for all kinds of reasons, but they stay in their church because of relationships...Now the Bible refers to biblical relationships by a word, and that word is fellowship.

 

RESPONSE:

The Bible also says:

Eph 5:11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove [them].

 

PASTOR BOB DEWAAY'S COMMENTS:

I wonder how “friendly” they would consider Stephen:

 

ACT 7:51 ¶ "You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did.

ACT 7:52 "Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become;

ACT 7:53 you who received the law as ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it. "

 

Again, they make the same error over and over: trying to “woo” the unregenerate by making the church look appealing to them in their lost state rather than preaching for conversions.

 

 

 

 

TODD HUDNALL:

And there is a lot of myths about fellowship....Small churches are friendly and large churches are cold and impersonal.  And that's not true...Small churches can turn into a cliques.  You know what clique is?  They won't let others in.....Actually often large churches are more accepting, because the only way you are going to grow bigger is by caring about individuals, not by caring about crowds.....an impersonal church will not grow.

 

The largest church in the world today is in Seoul Korea...is a church of around 750,000 people...

 

RESPONSE:

He is referring to David (Paul) Yongii Cho's church.  Is this a good example of a Christian leader?   What Hudnall failed to tell you is who the pastor of this church is and what he teaches.  Let us see what this man teaches:

 

Similar to Rick Warren's SHAPE Program, Rev. Cho's Fourth Dimension theology is based on occultist Carl Jung. “Cho's mystical foundation is built upon the sands of Sigmund Freud's and Carl Jung's subconscious mind rather than the rock of Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 3:11).”

http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/exposes/cho/general.htm

 

OCCULT HEALING BUILDS WORLD'S LARGEST CHURCH: THE INFLUENCE OF PAUL YONGGI CHO

http://wayoflife.org/fbns/occulthealing.htm

 

PASTOR BOB DEWAAY'S COMMENTS:

Agreed, Cho is a heretic and if he is an example of anything, it is the example of compromising the gospel to gain the approval of men.

 

HUDNALL:

We have to have our churches organized in such a way that we create a climate of love and acceptance

... At Saddleback Church...we do the same thing at our church...Every first time visitor we give 'first impressions' card... Our church wants to serve you better.  Would you please give us your opinion.  We ask three questions: this is what I notice first, this is what I like best, this is what I like least.  Let me give you some reactions of cards at Saddleback Church:... 'people were warm and friendly,  they were friendly people, I feel warm and comfortable and at ease, there was a warm and loving atmosphere, I felt comfortable and happy.'...The church is an organization that is built for the benefit of non-members to see them become members.

 

RESPONSE:

This is just one more example of the error in Warren's teachings...more Robert Schuller and Bill Hybels.  Opinions, opinions...and still more opinions...looking for the " I feel warm and comfortable and at ease," response.   Opinions were never the foundation of the true churches built throughout the church age.   How about hearing a truly anointed, Holy Ghost breathed sermon? Where sinners cringe under the mighty hand of God and whose hearts fail them because of the dread of the Lord and his coming wrath, where they fall on their faces before the living God or run to the altar to repent and be saved? The preaching of God's Word is convicting!! That is the Work of the Holy Spirit! To convict- it is not to make us feel comfortable in our sin!!  Hudnall is advocating building a community in direct conflict with the true work of the Holy Spirit.  The world will be offended at the preaching of Jesus, the true Gospel. They will be extremely uncomfortable and hate it. So the Bible tells us this, again and again. The church is not build for non-members.  It is build for believers to be trained up in righteousness and the instruction of the doctrines of the Apostles.  Certainly non-members will benefit if they repent, but it holds virtually nothing for them as non-believers unless they are hearing the Word of God.  We already have Rotary Club and many other wonderful organizations that offer community and good deeds,  Once again, this is upside down and backwards theology which is paving the way to Kingdom Now theology.

 

PASTOR BOB DEWAAY'S COMMENT:

Agreed: “Woe unto you when all men speak well of you.”

 

HUDNALL:

We have a three minute rule...you have to greet people you don't know...  One of the greatest needs people have is for friendliness, there is a need for that.  The church must provide friendliness.  People aren't just looking for a friendly church, they're  looking for friends.  They're looking for relationships.

 

RESPONSE:

.  Is this, "friendship," the focus of the Bible? Does this even remotely resemble the teaching of the Prophets, Jesus, disciples?  I could address this further, but Paul Proctor has already written one of the best articles which should help demolish this stronghold entitled: Religious Relativism.  http://www.newswithviews.com/PaulProctor/proctor50.htm

 

PASTOR BOB DEWAAY'S COMMENTS:

Agreed; this is the same error repeated over and over, we have to give the unregenerate what they are looking for. The Bible tells us what they are looking for:

 

EPH 2:3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

 

What they want is not just friendship; but they want self-fulfillment in this world without submitting to God on His terms.

 

TODD HUDNALL:

Now I want to say some things that are not in the notes...I particularly want to talk to the pastors who are here...  How do you develop a caring congregation.  Well let me tell you, it always starts with leadership...  One the greatest things you can do  to help your church grow pastor, is to smile.

 

RESPONSE:

 I hear John Maxwell coming out of every pore of this statement about leadership.  Just 'put on a happy face,” right?  I can certainly imagine Hananiah the false prophet smiling while he told the Israelites only good things are going to happen to them (see Jeremiah 28:15,16).  We know the Jeremiah wasn't smiling, Scripture only records his great anguish.  In fact there is whole book by Jeremiah entitled LAMENTATIONS.  So you can follow the smile, or you can follow the truth that Jeremiah preached.  Were David, Paul and Jesus...all of whom despaired unto death smiling in this despair?  The Book of Habakkuk is devoted to this prophets COMPLAINTS.  So shouldn't he have not complained so his congregation so he could recruit more followers and so his congregation would grow?

 

TODD HUDNALL:

There is nothing worse than a sad, sour, frowning pastor.

 

 

RESPONSE:

Actually there are many things worse than a sad, sour frowning pastor....such as a smiling pastor like Robert Schuller who is false teacher of the highest order, leading multitudes astray.  And Rick Warren is usually smiling and his teachings all riddled with falsehood.  I would much rather listen to the sad and frowning Jeremiah or Habbakuk than to a smiling false teacher.  And even a true teacher may often need to be sad as Paul was with bitter tears and tearing his robes as he watched false teaching come into the early church.  A pastor should be sad when there is sin in the body of Christ.

 

A smiling pastor proves nothing.  Doesn't Hudnall know that the siren's call of the harlot is no doubt with a smiling face.  Here are are accounts of flattering speech in the Old Testament...I am quite certain these enticements to sin were not “sad, sour, or frowning”:

 

Job 32:21 Let me not, I pray you, accept any man's person, neither let me give flattering titles unto man.

 

Job 32:22 For I know not to give flattering titles; [in so doing] my maker would soon take me away.

 

Psa 12:2 They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: [with] flattering lips [and] with a double heart do they speak.

 

Psa 12:3 The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, [and] the tongue that speaketh proud things:

 

Pro 7:21 With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him.

 

Pro 26:28 A lying tongue hateth [those that are] afflicted by it; and a flattering mouth worketh ruin.

 

Eze 12:24 For there shall be no more any vain vision nor flattering divination within the house of Israel.

 

And regarding people being led astray with smiles on their faces, we read:

 

Isa 30:10 Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:

 

Jer 5:31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love [to have it] so: and what will ye do in the end thereof? 

 

And how does Hudnall think seducing spirits described by Paul are going to appear?  With “nothing worse than a sad, sour, frowning”?   Are Satan's servants masquerading as servants of righteousness going to come across with “nothing worse than a sad, sour, frowning”?  

 

Here are but three New Testament Scriptures to refute Hudnall's false premise:

 

 

“For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if [it were] possible, even the elect.   Mark 13:23 But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things.”  Mark 13:22-23

 

“...by good word and fair speeches deceive the heart of the simple”  Romans 16:18

 

Th 2:5 For neither at any time used we flattering words, as ye know, nor a cloke of covetousness; God [is] witness:

 

 

TODD HUDNALL:

...If you want to know the temperature of your church, how warm your church is, the first thing you have to do is stick a thermometer in your mouth.  Because as goes the leader, so goes the church...You've got to work at being friendly...personally I am a little bit of an introvert...so I've had to force myself to get out of my comfort zone and reach out...and be loving and be friendly....Be approachable, be real...  We have to continue to develop warmth and integrity and people skills.  There are many good books actually that can help you.  I know many of you are familiar with John Maxwell.  He has written many books about people skills.  There is a book very famous in America, and I think around the world by Dale Carnegie, it is called How to win friends and influence people.  It is not a Christian book

 

RESPONSE:

John Maxwell is the President of Injoy Ministries which he began in San Diego and since moved to Atlanta, Georgia in 1997.  For many years he was pastor of Skyline Wesleyan Church in La Mesa (greater San Diego), California.  His website is http://www.injoy.com/.  (Todd Hudnall is presently a pastor in San Diego).  He was one of the speakers at Summer 2005's Willowcreek Summit with Rick Warren.  John Maxwell's books are not good books!   This section on John Maxwell is an article in its own right so I  made it an appendix (see Appendix A), made all the more critical when I discovered that John Maxwell wrote the foreward for John Jackson's book Pastorpreneur, the other major speaker at this same Purpose Driven Church conference.  John Jackson is also a promoter of apostate Dr. Robert Schuller...see: http://www.pastorpreneur.com/pp_impact5.html.  I recently corresponded with Kevin Trevithick who is in charge of Warren's SHAPE (301 Class) program at Pastor John Jackson's church, Carson Valley Christian Church in Nevada, website: http://www.carsonvalleychristian.com/.  I had written him an appeal to reconsider presenting this Jung-based personality temperament divination to his members.  In an email dated 3/17/2006, Trevithick responded with defending his extensive theology training (at Fuller) and stated:  “I prefer associations with those who focus on what they are FOR, rather than what they are AGAINST.”  This is rather a startling response in light of the fact that eight of the Ten Commandments are comprised of what God is “against” and a great deal of Scripture is devoted to what God is “against.”  Upon visiting Carson Valley Christian Church's website, I discovered that Rick Warren's temperament divination was not the only magic arts programs being run there.  They also conduct Martial Arts classes.  If you think this is a good Christian practice at a church, I invite you to read Rev. Ed Hird's article: Taekwondo & the Martial Arts: Mere Exercise or Trojan Horse?? http://www3.telus.net/st_simons/arm07.htm and http://www.canadianchristianity.com/cgi-bin/bc.cgi?bc/bccn/0902/artidolatrous as well as Linda Nathan's article entitled Karate, Kids, and the Culture at  http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/05/karate.htm.  This is in stark contrast to the what the Christians in the early church did in the book of Acts where they burned magic arts books vs. promoting them.

 

Even the third speaker Dr. Phil Walker (of the three major speakers listed on program as Rick Warren's staff), touted John Maxwell. It should be pointed out that Hudnall, Jackson, and Walker were not simply independent speakers who just happened to show up and be speakers at the same event.     Walker introduced both Hudnall and Jackson, emphasizing how critical their message was to the purpose-driven model.  Jackson in turn also spoke of the urgency of Todd Hudnall's purpose-driven essential components and the importance of hearing his presentations.  All three promoted Maxwell.  The bottom line is that they all reinforce each other, so there is guilt by association as well as identification!  And all three are major key global players and speakers for Rick Warren's PDC agenda!   Phil Walker is the President of International Christian Ministries, where he also promotes John Maxwell.  His organization (ICM) has also formed a partnership unholy alliance with Dr. Ralph Winter' s organization U.S. Center for World Mission, including its Dominionist curriculum entitled: Perspectives. If there remains any doubt that Ralph Winter is a false teacher, I invite you to read the documentation that corroborates it:  http://watch.pair.com/fuller.html.  I refer you to listen to Sarah Leslies' excellent speech on how Fullerton and PDC have hijacked the church, available at: http://www.pinebrook-aog.com/conference.htm.  Regarding Ralph Winter, I also invite you to read Al Dager's Media Spotlight article:  The World Christian Movement available at http://www.intotruth.org/globalism/WCM3.html

 

ICM's website http://www.icmusa.org/partnerships.php website states: “ICM coordinates the programs of Purpose Driven Ministries in Africa and the Middle East.”   ICM has also formed a direct alliance with John Maxwell from their website:  “ICM has agreed to represent John Maxwell's Million Leader Mandate in Africa.  The goal of this program is to see over 300,000 leaders go through six courses developed by Equip.  This program is scheduled to run through 2008.”  Phil Walker is a major global player in Warren's worldwide Purpose  Driven schematic who was responsible for setting up this conference in Nairobi, as well as spearheading five seminaries and conferences in twenty-four countries putting on two hundred conferences a year.  So it is impossible to dismiss the magnitude of John Maxwell's role and impact in Warren's Purpose Driven Church campaign.  Here is John Maxwell's endorsement of John Jackson's book:

 

"If you're thinking your way through developing a new church or being an agent for change in your present ministry, Pastorpreneur is worth reading. John Jackson knows what he's talking about because he's lived it..."
From the Foreword by John Maxwell  Source:  http://www.pastorpreneur.com/reviews.html

Upon visiting his own personal website as well as his church's website, I find that he too promotes John Maxwell's books as valuable resources as well as Mormon author and New Age promoter Stephen Covey.  See: 

Carson Valley Christian Center in Minden, Nevada and the President of VisionQuest Ministries

 

http://www.drjohnjackson.com/who.html

 

http://www.carsonvalleychristian.com/

 

 

Dale Carnegie.  What in world is Hudnall doing promoting the book of someone who is not a Christian to a conference of pastors and Christians?  He doesn't seem to have any problem with seeking the counsel of the ungodly and promoting it on top of that.  Hudnall quotes the Scripture  in this purpose-driven church conference that the natural man understands not the things of the spirit, yet goes ahead and promote the natural man Dale Carnegie who is not a Christian.  The title alone from Dale Carnegies' book How to Win Friends and Influence People should be a red flag to Christians and particularly pastors like Hudnall.  Hudnall should have said to this congregation regarding Carnegie's title and teaching:

 

“Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”  James 4:4

 

Hudnall also seems to forget 'Blessed is that man that maketh the LORD his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.' (Psalm 40:4)  Dale Carnegie, a non-believer, tells us how to win friends and influence people while Scripture tells us that friendship with the world is enmity with God.  So, Mr. Hudnall, you can't have it both ways!

 

TODD HUDNALL:

But it has very good principles about how to be loving and how to be friendly toward people.  Now let me give you some ideas on how to show you are approachable towards people...people 'why did you come to Saddleback and why did you come back?'  People will see what they like about the church...the positives  Next explain to them the baseball diamond...

 

RESPONSE:

Yes please do explain to us the baseball diamond.  I discuss Rick Warren's baseball diamond in Appendix B.   Warren's Discovery Classes (his baseball diamond) 101 – 401 have little to do with salvation and sanctification or Christian theology but are about taking oaths to commit ones self to serving a PDC.

 

 

TODD HUDNALL:

Here is a letter that Pastor Rick received from someone who visited his church and visited his house.  They said: 'Pastor Rick is just a real person, like I am.  I feel that he would like me just as much as I liked him.  This is an attitude you can even develop.  Let me tell you a place you can develop this pastors.  It is in your pulpit..  When you are real, people know that you have struggles.  You too have challenges...just be honest about it...  That's one of the things about God.  He became a man so that he could become approachable in the person of Jesus....

 

RESPONSE:

And where is this doctrine taught in Scripture?  Jesus came to pay the penalty for sin and to appease his Father's wrath!  Having done this, Jesus Christ is not more approachable...in fact he is a rock of offense, despised and rejected and we esteemed him NOT.   See Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53 and:

 

Rom 9:33 As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

 

 

1Pe 2:8 And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, [even to them] which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.

 

PASTOR BOB DEWAAY'S COMMENTS:

Saying Jesus became a man to become more approachable to we should therefore make ourselves approachable is a misrepresentation of the purpose of the incarnation. It merely makes Jesus a “good example to follow” rather than the unique One who provided a substitutionary atonement.

 

 

TODD HUDNALL:

Dale Carnegie said: 'There is no sweeter word in any language than a person's name to them.'

 

 

 

 

RESPONSE:

Of course if you're trying to build a business, knowing the names the names of your customers is very important.  Of course it is universal that we all appreciate having people in the church know our names.  But from a Biblical perspective, hearing our name is sweet depending on whether we are guilty or not!  If hearing the voice of the Lord calling out to them was so sweet to the hearing, then why did Adam and Eve hide and cover their nakedness?  God called out Cain's name after he murdered his brother.  Was Cain's name being called sweet for Cain to hear?  Saul called out Samuel's name in the account of the witch of Endor.  Did Samuel think that was sweet music to his hears?  No, he was very upset at being disturbed from the grave, when Saul practiced divination.  And what about when Jesus asked the demon-possessed man what his name was?  The answer was “Legion, for we are many”.  Now were these demons think their name being called was “no sweeter word” when Jesus then cast them out into a herd of swine?  One demon even asked Jesus if he came to torment them...as the time for them to be cast into the Lake of Fire had not come yet.  And Abraham, Jacob, and Saul in the Book of Acts, all had had their names changed, so their new name would have been much sweeter because the Lord changed their names.  And this is now the second time we hear Hudnall recommending the counsel of Dale Carnegie, a non-believer.  The sweetest word in any language should not be my own name, rather it should be the name of Jesus Christ, the Rose of Sharon.

 

.TODD HUDNALL:

..Actually scientists tell us that by not being touched enough can have skin deprivation.  True we need to be touched....

 

RESPONSE:

Is 'feely' 'touchy' the proper focus of the church?  The Apostle said it was good to not even touch a woman.

 

TODD HUDNALL:

Why don't you say that with me: 'give them a look, give them a word, and give them touch.'...Here is a copy of a note that Pastor Rick Warren received from one of the people of his church.  It said: 'Pastor Rick, I can't tell you what it meant to me when on Friday, you put your arms around me in comfort.  It felt as though Jesus' arms were holding me in such compassion and tenderness.  I know now that I will make it through this not so exciting time.  And I know he sent me here so I could feel God's caring love'...  Here is another note he received....'thanks for making me feel special.'...Here is another thing, use humor....if you make jokes about yourself, you will always have a lot to joke about...

 

Each of us have to make a decision.  Are we going to impress people or are we going to influence people.   Because you can't do both.  You can impress people from a distance, but you influence them up close... We have to get close to people if we want to influence them.

 

RESPONSE:

This is more mumbo jumbo.  The Apostle Paul spent most of his time a great distance from the churches he started and those he simply wrote to in his letters.  He had great influence on them at a distance.   And he instructed his epistles to be read and circulated to other Christians and churches, many of which were far away in time and distance.  In fact his influence throughout the Church Age is far more extensive than any he saw or touched up close.  Jesus Christ in fact even rebuked Thomas for having to “touch” his wounds while commending those who believed and obeyed who never even say Jesus' face in era, or the rest of us who are Christians living in the 21^st Century.  I am in many ways more influenced by brothers and sisters around the world that I correspond with that I may never meet until the Wedding Supper of the Lamb.  Conversely, I know many people that I am up close to in which I have no influence and they have none on me.  Using geographic distance as formula is at best precarious and can be shot full of holes simply by observing New Testament accounts of church life.    

 

PASTOR BOB DEWAAYS COMMENTS:

I would say that he (Hudnall) creates a false dilemma. Either influence/ or impress. We are not seeking to do either; we are seeking to be faithful to God through gospel preaching so that He, by His grace will convert them. Whether they are influenced or impressed with us personally is of little concern. The power is through the Holy Spirit convicting.

 

TODD HUDNALL:

Healthy churches  have pastors who are not afraid to get up close to people.  Accept and affirm diversity among your members.  Healthy churches focus on unity, on uniformity...

 

Now the thing that we don't want to do is use guilt to motivate people.  Because that is not accepting.  You see here is the reason a lot of us use guilt to motivate people.  Because it works.  But it is not healthy.  And over the long term it is going to be damaging. 

 

RESPONSE:

This notion is patently absurd.  All of the Prophets of the Old Testament laid a guilt trip on the people, whether Noah, Jonah, Jeremiah, etc.  Guilt is good if you are guilty...that means you are convicted of sin.  The preaching of repentance in both testaments was to point out their guilt.  Over the long term it is damaging if you refrain from teaching them they are guilty...as 'all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.'  Guilt motivates people to repent.  So do you think they are going to repent if they think they aren't guilty, if faith cometh by hearing...but they never hear that they are guilty as Warren tragically does in his Ladies Home Journal column?  As to what is “healthy”....the healthiest thing that Nathan the Prophet could have done to David was to tell him he was guilty in his adultery with Bathsheba.  David was motivated to repent!  Pastor Bob DeWaay demolishes this stronghold of false teaching about a healthy church in his book Redefining Christianity.   As a pastor, you better worry if your congregation is not motivated by guilt.  People with reprobate minds whose consciences have been seared like a hot iron are not motivated by guilt.  This is the FINAL stage of apostasy and could not be more UNHEALTHY.  The Scriptures warn us about this state of mind.  Christians everywhere should be thankful to the Lord that they still have the ability to feel guilty...it is a great and righteous motivator!!!

 

PASTOR BOB DEWAAYS COMMENTS:

The Biblical pattern is to preach the law that shows people their own guilt before God and preach the gospel so they see the only hope for escape. We are not motivating them to serve us, but to turn to God and receive the free gift of salvation. He (Hudnall) doesn’t make it clear about motivation to do what, so it makes the issue muddy.

 

 

TODD HUDNALL:

We have a membership class in our church.  And some issues that we teach are personal preferences and personal convictions are up to the individual...I shouldn't judge him over his convictions and he shouldn't judge me over my convictions...preach the word, live your convictions.  Don't preach your convictions.  And in your church, if you want to be an accepting church, you have to accept the fact that you can't push convictions on people.  Everyone has to live their own convictions...understand that we live in a time when people mainly don't choose a church because of its denomination.  They choose a church that meets their need..

 

 

Romans 14:19 says this; 'Let us concentrate on the things that make for harmony and the growth of our fellowship together.'

 

RESPONSE:

He uses the PH translation.  Let us Compare this verse to KVJ:

 

“Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.” Romans 14:19

 

Note there is nothing in there about church growth!  In fact there is nothing in Scripture that gives us a mandate to grow the church or commandments to do so!

 

TODD HUDNALL:

Augustine said this: 'In essentials we have unity, in non-essentials we have liberty, and in all things we show charity.”

 

RESPONSE:

“This famous motto of Christian Irenics, which I have slightly modified in the text, is often falsely attributed to St. Augustin (whose creed would not allow it, though his heart might have approved of it), but is of much later origin. It appears for the first time in Germany, A.D. 1627 and 1628, among peaceful divines of the Lutheran and German Reformed churches, and found a hearty welcome among moderate divines In England.”  SOURCE: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/hcc7.ii.vii.viii.html

 

TODD HUDNALL:

You see there are some essentials, you have to believe that salvation comes through faith alone in Christ alone...

 

RESPONSE:

Yes, the doctrine of salvation through faith alone is essential (as this is what the Reformation was about).  Countless Christians could have saved themselves from being burned at the stake by simply denying this Sola Scripture doctrine.  It is curious as to why Rick Warren is forming an unholy alliance with the Roman Catholic Church for his purpose-driven programs when the Roman Catholic Church put forth in the Council of Trent that those Protestants who hold such views are anathematized (cursed).

 

TODD HUDNALL:

Now if you will do some of these things as a leader and you treat people with love and acceptance, you'll have no problem in getting people to come to your church.

 

COMMUNICATE THE VALUE OF MEMBERSHIP....

what membership should be is not conformity, but commitment...  That is the difference between someone who just attends your church and someone who is becoming a member of your church.  An attender is a spectator.  A member is a participant.  An attender is consumer, but a member is a contributor....You become a Christian by committing your life to Jesus Christ.  You become a church member by committing yourself to another group of Christians.  Now it is not just a commitment to God it is a commitment to other Christians.  If you are going to become part of the church, you become part of a family.  A family where you love...and where you are loved....and all members, the Scripture says, belong to one another.  It's called fellowship  The Greek word is the word Koinonia...It means being committed to each other just as we are committed to Jesus Christ.  That is genuine fellowship.  Now there are three parts to the Christian life...Believing (Acts 16:31), Belonging (Ephesians 2:19)...and then Becoming (Romans 8:29)....and a Believer without a church family is an orphan.  There should be no orphan Christians.  You need to be part of a church family...There are at least 30 commands in the New Testament that you can not obey unless you are committed to a local body of believers...You can't do that unless you have other believers around you.  So in your church, you need to communicate the value of membership.   And you do it by telling people the benefits of membership.[end side one]

 

RESPONSE:

So let me get this straight.  Pastor Hudnall is suggesting that if you are a Christian and not a member of local church, you are an orphan.  Well just to be sure, I did a search on Blueletterbible.org for every occurrence of the word “orphan” in the Authorized King James Bible.  To my great surprise, the word did not even come up on the search.  So I checked the New American Standard and other translations.  The word came up, but in cross-referencing it to the Scriptures the word orphan was translated as “fatherless.”  I also checked it against the Greek and once again it is the word “fatherless”.  So, you might ask 'what's the difference?'

 

Well let's go back and plug in the more accurate rendering of the word into Pastor Todd Hudnall's axiom.  It would now have to read: 'a Believer without a church family is fatherless'.  Now we are not referring to literal orphans which are fatherless, rather this teaching by Warren's ambassador is referring to the spiritual definition of “orphan” or a believer in Christ who is supposedly an orphan.  Is this true?  Well let's examine the relevant Scriptures to find out.

 

Jhn 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, [even] to them that believe on his name: 

"I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” John 14:18 NASB

Rom 8:15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

 

2Cr 6:18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. 

 

Gal 4:5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

Gal 4:6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. 

 

Eph 1:5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

 

 

Now even if we were to use Todd Hudnall's definition of a Christian “orphan”.  He would not be referring to literal orphans...his intent is obviously spiritual orphans.  Yet it is the height of hypocrisy to label believers without a local church as “orphans” when in fact it is Warren's Purpose Driven Church model that has created a host of “orphans” by purpose-driving them out of church after church as evidenced in part by this documentation of how Rick Warren uses spiritual eugenics for his policy of selective reduction of saints he calls “resisters” and “pillars” along with his partner John Southerland (Churchtransitions.org) calls Sanballats ('leaders from Hell') and Valley View Christian Church, a PDC in Dallas, Texas which promotes 'Creative Destruction', and the Assemblies of God call 'We Build People' and 'Transformation' (based on Warren's principles) .  For proof see: Spiritual Euthanasia http://www.letusreason.org/Current61.htm.  This article is posted on a number of ministries around the world.  Just type the title in your Google search engine for a list of them.

 

Therefore, I think we would all be wise to let Jesus Christ and his Apostle Paul define who is an orphan (fatherless) in a spiritual sense.  And Jesus did come when he sent the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.  So from that time forth  EVERY Christian ceases to be an orphan the nanosecond or twinkling of an eye,  they become a believer and remain so.  Hudnall would have us believe that there are now two classes of Christians...one group that are members of a local church and therefore not fatherless vs. another group which remain orphans until they become a member of a local church.  But the Bible teaches that without Christ, all men are orphans and in Christ, none are orphans.  So there are two groups all right.  All men who are Christ-less are orphans and all men who are not saved are now no longer orphans but adopted sons!!!  And just like the Judaizers that both Jesus and Paul warned us about and Paul even cursed, no sooner are Christians set free in Christ, then Rick Warren comes along and puts them right back into the bondage of the Law, Traditions and philosophies of men...a program that would be a Pharisee's dream, shipwrecking the faith of many, putting them in a worse state, and disqualifying themselves for the ministry. In conclusion, it is true that are commanded to not forsake the assembling of one another.  But forsaking the assembling, or simply being in transit between churches, or being forced or purpose-driven out of a church does not make a Christian an orphan.

 

PASTOR BOB DEWAAYS COMMENTS:

PDC redefines the church and joining such a church that is more of a community gathering of religious consumers than a gathering of the blood bought children of God is not what the Biblical passages have in mind. Since God wants us to gather together for true fellowship; and since according to 1John 1 we only have that through the blood atonement; and since the PDC doesn’t preach the blood atonement publicly, I would urge all people in PDC churches to leave those and find churches where the unsullied preaching of God’s Word is found.

 

TODD HUDNALL:

Now most church bring in new members accidentally.  But if you are going to be a purpose driven church you do it intentionally...there is a plan...there is a process...  Develop a plan to assimilate new members.  Assimilate is turning outsiders into insiders.

 

Proverbs 20:18 says “Make plans by seeking advice.'

 

There are 12 questions you need to ask about a membership class.

 

A strong membership class will grow a strong church.  This is not a doctrine.  Your goal is to impart a vision in people so that they will give you a commitment.  Understand this is not a doctrinal class.  It isn't about doctrine, it is about philosophy. .. In my church, my wife actually teaches the class...  New members need to see your vision and your personal vision as the pastor.  This is not a new believers class.  That class needs to explain what is a church.  What are the purposes of the church.  What are the benefits of being a member.  They need to know the benefits.  What are the requirements?  What is the strategy?... Develop a membership covenant.  II Corinthians 6:5 says this:'they first gave themselves to the Lord, then by God's will they gave themselves to us.'  Now in a marriage ceremony, what is the most important part of the ceremony?  THE VOWS.  The membership covenant are the vows of becoming a member.

 

RESPONSE: 

So apart from the fact that Warren's membership covenant strays from Scriptural commands regarding oaths, as we have outlined above, Warren is not even correct in his analogy of church membership to marriage.  First of all a person becomes of member of the Body of Christ the minute they become a Christian.  There is no second membership.  Yes we do identify with a local expression of the body and should not forsake the assembling of one another and should be accountable to a local church.  But Warren has created a false analogy.  In our spiritual marriage, Christ is the groom and the Church is the Bride.  And each individual member of the Body of Christ comprise the Bride.  So we, in effect, are married to Christ (technically we are betrothed until the Marriage Supper of the Lamb), NOT TO THE CHURCH.  In Pastor Hudnall's example we would be married to ourselves.  If he wants to draw a comparison of church membership to marriage, then he would have to apply God hating divorce to his model, in which case members (whom he calls “resisters”) can not be removed from the church accept for unfaithfulness and immorality.  Yet that is precisely what he advocates through his Leadership Training documents.  A recent example is 165 members being recently ousted from Gardendale Baptist Church in Corpus Christi, Texas because they opposed the teachings of Rick Warren.

 

Rick Warren raises the stakes by comparing church membership to marriage is the gravity of the error of the false analogy...all believers are ALREADY the bride of Christ, and Christ alone is the groom.....the church is not the groom.  This is heresy of the highest order and something I shared with Richard Bennett because it is what Roman Catholicism did!  Here is what Richard Bennett, Director of Berean Beacon and a former Roman Catholic Priest has to say about comparing marriage vows to church membership vows...the same mistake Roman Catholicism has made in usurping the role and the authority of the church from Christ himself:

 

 

RICHARD BENNETT:

 

Control in Conscience on the same level as Vows to God

Warren’s Purpose Driven Megachurch program is ‘religion’ in its worse possible understanding of the term.  Like unto the Church of Rome it is a religion of control over the souls of men and women.  The Roman Church gets people in by her sacraments and once in, she exercises her control by her Canon Law.  The method of Warren is to win multitudes with a sham gospel (which we will document below), and then to control them with ‘a membership covenant’.  The membership covenant is explained “in the same way” as marriage vows.  Warren’s teaching is,

 

“The most important part of a marriage ceremony is when the man and woman exchange vows. Before witnesses and God, they make certain promises to each other. This covenant between them is the essence of the marriage.  In the same way, I believe the essence of church membership is contained in the willingness to commit to a membership covenant. It is the most important element of our membership class.”[1]

 

To put commitment to a Church on the same level as marriage vows is utterly immoral.   Marriage vows are a creation ordinance from God, in the Scripture there are no vows instituted by God regarding obedience to the Pastor(s) of a church.  Though the Pharisees imposed burdens on the people, they never came anywhere near demanding a submission on the same level as the vows of marriage.  To demand obedience at a level God reserves to Himself in His creation ordinance of marriage is immoral.  However until these false vows of membership are exposed for what they are, these vows, through false guilt will augment the increase in numbers of this new type of a Megachurch founded and implemented by Warren....The false genius of Warren is to pretend to stand in God’s place so as to control the souls of men and women.  People are led to believe that their vow to church faithfulness is a vow to God just like a marriage vow.  This is the ultimate tool of those who desire to have dominion of multitudes.  Entice people into a system and then with persuasive techniques show them the necessity of committing themselves to loyalty to the system by means of a vow.   Men and women think because they have made such a vow or covenant, if they criticize the church that they will have sinned against God.  The church system thus uses these false vows for control of conscience of the members.  Such so called church vows or covenants are false and void.  Since in Revelation chapter 17 we learn that Romanism will gather into herself the whole of apostate Christendom, called “Mystery Babylon”, we suspect that what we are seeing is not just a movement, but that it is indeed the beginning of an apostate empire that can easily work with the Church of Rome and be one of her daughters. SOURCE: http://www.bereanbeacon.org/articles/rick_warren_purpose_driven.htm

 

Bob DeWaay, Pastor of Twin Cities Fellowship and author of Redefining Christianity, Understanding the Purpose Driven Movement, does an excellent treatment on oaths in his new book in Chapter 4, Redefining Christian Commitment, further refuting Hudnall and Warren's teachings regarding oaths and vows as they apply to the individual Christian.

 

TODD HUDNALL:

Now at Saddleback there are four requirements for membership:

 

First of all, That you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior

Second of all you must be baptized in water as a public symbol of your faith

Third of all you must complete the membership Class 101

Fourth, you must SIGN the commitment to abide by the membership covenant...

 

Now would rather have the complainers leave or the committed followers leave?  I would rather have the complainers leave and the followers stay!  And that is what a membership class does.  Now when you establish and adopt a membership class, you are deciding who's gonna stay.  It is about philosophy and strategy.   Because people and churches rarely divide over doctrine, they usually divide over philosophy and strategy.  So here is the Saddleback covenant.  You should have this in your manual......Relationships are the glue that keep people in the church...So we need to close the back door of our church by getting people into small groups...  Don't apologize for asking people to make a commitment.  You make the class so good that they will want to come to the class.

 

RESPONSE:

Complainers vs. followers.  This is also addressed above in an earlier paragraph.  Let me just add that many of these “complainers” had legitimate biblical grievances.  So yes, I would much rather have these people in the church who are not afraid to sound the alarm on His Holy Hill when they detect false teachings.  In response to a question from the congregation about what to do with people who are already members...Hudnall says that they don't have to take the membership class.  Yet saints all over the U.S. And Canada, in fact, are being removed or marginalized because they won't sign Warren's new covenants. Also see: Paul Proctor's article on relationships:   Religious Relativism.  http://www.newswithviews.com/PaulProctor/proctor50.htm

 

Finally at the end of the sessions, Todd Hudnall tells us that great leaders in Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Church model must rightly divide or handle the truth.  He quotes II Timothy about Paul's instructions to Timothy which states:

 

"Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" II Timothy 2:15

 

But I find this admonition almost beyond belief.  This document proves that both Warren and Hudnall have distinctly NOT rightly divided or handled the truth.  So these workers of iniquity do need to be workmen ashamed and should be disqualified and silenced according Paul's teachings in Scripture.

 

Hudnall continues to ram home the same mantra we have heard all over the world that the vision of the pastor determines who stays and who leaves the church.  But once again, this a blatant usurping of power and abuse of spiritual authority.  The Holy Spirit holds the authority of who goes and who stays in a church. Church discipline, according to Scripture does give instructions on grounds for being expelled from a church...but this must be on moral grounds with documentation and two or more witnesses.  And even then, a path of restoration is created should the disciplined involved repent and/or make restoration.  A difference in philosophy can NEVER be the grounds for biblically driving a person from the church.

 

********

In conclusion, we receive a flood of emails from pastors and Christians admonishing us for not having exercised Matthew 18 before publishing these findings.  I continue to be shocked how many shepherds of God's sheep do not know that Matthew 18 pertains primarily to a PRIVATE matter or sin between two brothers not a PUBLIC matter of teachings that are no longer private, but are rather very public.  Scripture dictates public false teaching requires public exposure and warning.  And even Matthew 18 would become public if the offending brother remains unrepentant.  So for those people are are still unconvinced, I and many others already did directly confront Rick Warren, Todd Hudnall, John Jackson, and Phil Walker, TWICE.  None have repented, none have responded, and none have made restitution.  So grounds are already established to make this public whichever biblical passage you wish to invoke regarding church discipline.

 

APPENDIX A

JOHN MAXWELL'S TEACHINGS

 

John Maxwell's teachings are at the core of much of Warren's Purpose Driven programs and philosophy and touted by both Todd Hudnall (Assembly of God) and Dr. John Jackson (American Baptist).  So I am devoting more extensive treatment to him in this documentary.  John Maxwell is a another major player in social engineering.  Mr. Hudnall believes ministry starts with good leadership.  Hudnall endorses  John Maxwell a second time at the end of his PDC conference when he states:  “Everything rises and falls with leadership.” Well what kind of leader in ministry touts a well known eugenicist Thorndike as John Maxwell does in his “good” book.  Besides Edward Thorndike (evolutionist, eugenicists, humanist, atheist), the  parade of false teachers and teachings that Maxwell promotes in his books is quite staggering.  Just some of them include: Norman Vincent Peale (33^rd Degree Mason), Robert Schuller Richard Foster, Agnes Sanford (pantheist and Carl Jung disciple), Napolean Hill, New Age Psychologist James Allen, Temperament divination, Kay Arthur (THRIVE), Zig Ziglar, Bill Hybels, and of course Rick Warren.  The Assembly of God (and of course all Christians) should be  be particularly horrified by Agnes Sanford's definition of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit (see Richard Howe's article below).  If there is any doubt that John Maxwell is a false teacher, read the following documentaries:

 

Midwest Outreach article entitled Some Concerns about John C. Maxwell  by Richard G. Howe, may be accessed at:

http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/exposes/maxwell/general.htm

 

&

Berit Kjos article:Strange Journeys:    Jane Fonda, John Maxwell, Norma McCorvey, and Scott Peck -- what do they have in common?

http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/05/journeys.htm#maxwell

 

&

Steve Muse
Eastern Regional Watch
http://www.erwm.com/Temptation_for_Another.htm

*************

II. Behavior Modification
In his book Developing the Leaders Around You, John Maxwell endorses Behaviorism Psychologist Edward Thorndike (pg. 124)

 

Maxwell states:

"Behaviors immediately rewarded increase in frequency; behaviors immediately punished decrease in frequency."

 

 Well here is more what Thorndike believed:

 

 "Edward L. Thorndike, Cattell's famous protégé, also adopted Galton's views on inherited intelligence. As a true believer in race science and evolution, he believed that man was an animal that could be trained as an animal. Thus, he invented the stimulus-response technique of behavioral education. He wrote in 1911:

Nowhere more truly than in his mental capacities is man a part of nature. His instincts, that is, his inborn tendencies to feel and act in certain ways, show throughout marks of kinship with the lower animals, especially with our nearest relatives physically, the monkeys. His sense-powers show no new creation. His intellect we have seen to be a simple though extended variation from the general animal sort. This again is presaged by the similar variation in the case of the monkeys. Amongst the minds of animals that of man leads, not as a demigod from another planet, but as a king from the same race.

Thus, the idea that man was made in God's image went out the school window. Both Cattell and Thorndike had fathers who were Christian ministers. So they knew the Bible very well. Their apostasy destroyed American education. Thus, with America's top educators adapting the ideas of eugenics to the problems of education, eugenics as scientific racism acquired widespread respectability. It should also be noted that the I.Q. test was a direct result of the eugenics enterprise, serving as a means of sifting out the mentally superior. " See:

Eugenics and the Christian Ethic By Samuel L. Blumenfeld http://www.chalcedon.edu/Report/2000sep/blumenfeld_eugenics.htm

 

Note that John Maxwell quotes Edward Thorndike.   Here is another quote from Edward Thorndike:

 

 "Schools would serve as "instruments of managed evolution, establishing conditions for selective breeding before the masses take things into their own hands" (now I quoted that from a published essay by Edward Thorndike at Columbia Teacher's college in 1911).

 

 

Thorndike was a Eugenicist (selective breeding of humans which of course leads to population control as in China, and ultimately is racist at its heart... abortion is a modern, politically correct form of eugenics - elimination of undesirables).

 

Edward L. Thorndike, mentioned above, who would “oversee the training of more empirical characterologists than any other American, [and had] sung the praises of this [eugenics] movement in a 1913 lecture: ‘Eugenics, With Special Reference to Intellect and Character.’”Good Genes Not Enough Character Education needed for Race Betterment “ Watch Unto Prayer http://watch.pair.com/charter2.html

 

As I said before, this is all repackaged Dale Carnegie's How to win friends and influence People, whom Todd Hudnall also quotes and promotes as you will see below.  Prosperity Doctrine with more spin.  I wonder how Maxwell and Hudnall would respond to the following:

 

Some saints who never became leaders fulfilled so God would be glorified:

 

1.  The thief on the cross

 

2:

 “And others had trial of [cruel] mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:

 

They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;

 

 (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and [in] mountains, and [in] dens and caves of the earth.

 

And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:” Hebrews 11:36-39 (or fulfilling their capacity for leadership so God would be glorified?)

 

 

FEW OR NONE OF THESE BECAME LEADERS...IF ANYTHING THEY WENT THE OTHER WAY AND BECAME SLAVES, PRISONERS, AND PERSECUTED.

 

3. 

“Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him”  James 2:5

“But ye have despised the poor. (NIV renders this “But you have insulted the poor!”)  Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?”  James 2:6

 

4. The saints in Revelation who loved their lives not unto death were far more commended than any or many mighty (few of which will entire the Kingdom of God)....these saints in Smyrna and Philadelphia whom the Lord had nothing against...and for the most part did not become leaders.  Wouldn't I rather be the Christian God called me to be than become a leader if this is not what God has for me?  So my question for Mr. Maxwell, is why would we want to become the type of person that God says very few of which will enter the Kingdom.

 

 

5.  Not many should be teachers (leaders) as the will receive a stricter accounting.  So if we are not called to be leaders, how will God be glorified....as though God is not already glorified with or without any pitiful efforts of man or his meager filthy rags works?

 

Lessons in Leadership from the Word of God.  The Maxwell Leadership Bible.  Notes and Articles by John Maxwell.  New King James Version. 

 

Here is the advertisement:

 

"No matter who you are, someone is following you as you follow Jesus.  God is glorified when you fulfill your capacity for leadership!  Discover your astonishing potential to impact the world for Christ."  (underlining mine)

 

Where, Mr. Maxwell, do you find in Scripture that God is glorified when we fulfill our capacity for leadership?

 

What about the humble servants who were obedient to the Lord?

 

The widow (and her mite).

The woman (prostitute) who broke the alabaster jar and anointed Jesus' feet. 

The Apostle Paul. 

 

How would Mr. Maxwell respond to the following Scriptures?

 

“For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. 

 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness [come] by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. Galatians 2:19-21

And...

 

 

“And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.”  Gal 5:24 

And...

 

“God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.”  Gal. 6:14 

 

And...

 

“Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, [therewith] to be content.  I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 

I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”   Philippians 4:11-13

 

So the Apostle Paul says I have not yet achieved it, but John Maxwell tells us all even if we are not Christians, it is within our reach?  Regarding Maxwell and Warren....why is it all of these people always have "principles" and "laws" of Christ?  Don't they know it is not Christ's principles or laws that redeem us and ransom us out of darkness, but the PERSON OF CHRIST HIMSELF and the PERSON OF THE HOLY SPIRIT that sanctifies who we are in Christ...not those who are outside of Christ.    Finally, it is not even surprising that Hudnall promotes John Maxwell, because the whole Purpose Driven Church and its clone, the Assemblies of God's Vision of Transformation and We Build People, practice their own version of Edward Thorndike's elimination of undesirables in the church by simply renaming the practice “blessed subtraction” or “dealing with “resisters” and “pillars”, or as Hudnall puts it “complainers”.

 

 

 

APPENDIX B

RICK WARREN'S BASEBALL DIAMOND

 

Now it is interesting that Warren picks an American sport.  How does he explain his baseball diamond to countries which either never heard of baseball as a sport or far prefer soccer?  So which team is on the Lord's side, the offense or the defense?  How do you get to first base (CLASS 101)?  Works of course...you have to hit a run.  But what if you hit a home run?  Do you go immediately to home plate (CLASS 401)?  But you can also get to first base if the pitcher throws four balls...or hits you with the ball...so you get to first base not on your works, but other mans errors.  Who is the umpire in this game analogy?  What if he calls you out in three strikes and you never get to first base at all?  But let's say you somehow make it to first base.  There you have to sign a covenant of membership in spite of Jesus' very strong warnings about oaths.  But at any point in time you can be called out if you don't make stealing second base (CLASS 201) , or batters that follow you are struck out or pop-flied out.  So let's say that you somehow make it to second base only to have to take another covenant pledging to tithe in spite of the fact that Paul tells us to give WITHOUT compulsion.  So then somehow by perhaps your own effort or that of a teammate's hit, you make it to third base.  And what is third base, still another covenant you must sign (CLASS 301).  But this one is probably the worst because you are forced to take a personality temperament profile which is in effect practicing temperament or divination.  It is bad enough that you have to take the profile, but worse that Warren promotes it and makes it binding upon his membership of his church and the very training manual being presented to hundreds of thousands of churches all over the world.  Home plate is CLASS 401.  But now they have CLASS 501.  How do you get a fifth base into a four base sport?  And how many runs do you need to win?  Who's side is the pitcher on?  What if the batter rarely if ever makes a hit, but is a good shortstop who rarely if ever even makes it to first base?  The game is rigged and titled in favor of good batters. Does the other team get to bat?  Pastor John Jackson declared at this conference that “you get no credit for people  (runners) left on base.”  Well this is troublesome for a least three reasons: (1) Why do you get credit at all or want the credit (assuming even that the baseball diamond is a valid symbol of the church) for someone getting saved (first base)?  (2)  Where in Scripture do we get permission to measure results which PDC model insists on doing?  (3)  Jackson indicts his own model of using the analogy of a baseball diamond because the thief on the cross was stranded on first base without going to the other three bases, as were a host of martyrs and persecuted saints throughout the church age.  Rick Warren's baseball diamond analogy raises more questions than it answers and introduces more requirements upon a Christian that are burdens beyond what is written in Scripture for Christians but it also introduces requirements which are distinctly PROHIBITED in Scripture.

 

APPENDIX C

Thomas Trask, General Superintendent of Assemblies of God

 

Tom Trask, General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God Church, overseer of Assemblies of God Pastor Todd Hudnall, is now spearheading the Centennial of the Azusa Street Revival in April in Los Angeles,  where Rick Warren will be a keynote speaker.  Some of the other apostate teachers invited to speak at this conference include Jack Hayford, David Cho, Crefo Dollar.  Here is what Jim Brown reporter for Agape Press and America Family Radio recently told me in a March 24, 2006 email, regarding Tom Trask's telephone call to him about his abuse of spiritual authority and typical of the many SOS phone calls I receive, as well as does Southwest Radio Church, regarding treatment of Christians in churches in most denominations who oppose Purpose Driven teachings or their church being “transformed”:

“Here's a summary of the call I received from Gen. Sup. Thomas Trask

A very angry Thomas Trask called me yesterday, claiming I was "doing a major
disservice to the Kingdom" by interviewing Pastor Ray Barnett regarding the
Adour debacle in the NY presbytery.  He accused me of never contacting the
AOG national headquarters before publishing so-called "lies" from Adour and
Barnett.  I let him know that I called his office twice requesting an
interview on the matter, but I never heard back from them.  Trask said since
the denomination is so large they receive thousands of media inquiries like
that every year and his secretary probably forget to pass the messages on to
him.  I told him that while he was on the line, we could do an interview and
he could have his chance to explain why Adour and Barnett were dismissed.
He said he would never do an interview with us because he's not willing to
address "false and slanderous allegations."  He yelled several times that I
was "doing a major disservice to the Kingdom," and said my journalism was
"trash" and just "a bunch of garbage." He also asserted that the only reason
I wrote the story was to attack the AOG denomination.  He then told me he
was going to tell his denomination about my shoddy work and then he abruptly
hung up.  All during his angry diatribe I was thinking -- this man heads the
Assemblies of God denomination.  I pity the men and women across the country
under this man's leadership.”