Beware of the Purpose Driven Church!

From the same folks that kicked Chuck Swindoll off the air…
comes a handy brochure you too can print and pass out to your friends, family members and fellow church goers: “Is Your Church Going Purpose Driven? How Can You Tell?”

The Purpose Driven Church books and most of the programs are published by Rupert Murdoch, who owns 175 newspapers worldwide, and a large percentage of the television and communications industry.
He also owns several magazines, some of which have been classified as pornographic.
Billions of dollars pour into the Purpose Driven Church movement. Dr. Warren has stated he intends to send one billion Christians into the world to bring in the “Kingdom of Heaven.” The entire movement appears cultish.

Here are some handy ways to tell if your church is joining the cult…

1. Change in music to a contemporary rock style.
2. Removal of hymn books; eliminating the choir.
3. Replacement of organ and piano with heavy metal instruments.
4. Repetitive singing of praise lyrics.
5. Eliminating of business meetings, church committees, council of elders, board of deacons, etc.
6. The pastor, or a new leader with a few assistants, usually four, takes charge of all church business.
7. A repetitive 40–day Purpose Driven Church study program stressing psychological relationships with each other, the community, or the world, begins.
8. Funded budgeted programs are abandoned, or ignored, with ambiguous financial reports made.
9. Sunday morning, evening, and/or Wednesday prayer meetings are changed to other times; some may even be eliminated.
10. Sunday School teachers are moved to different classes, or replaced by new teachers more sympathetic with the changes being implemented.
11. The name “Sunday school” is dropped and classes are given new names.
12. Crosses and other traditional Christian symbols may be moved from both the inside and outside of the church building. The pulpit may also be removed.
13. In accordance with Dr. Warren’s instructions, new version Bibles are used; or only verses flashed on a screen are referenced during regular services.
14. Purpose Driven Church films, purchased from Saddleback, precede or are used during regular services.
15. The décor, including the carpets, may be changed to eliminate any resemblance to the former church.
16. The word “church” is often taken from the name of the church, and the church may be called a “campus.” Denominational
    names may also be removed.

17. An emphasis on more fun and party sessions for the youth.
18. Elimination of altar calls or salvation invitations at the close of the services.
19. The elimination of such words as “unsaved,” “lost,” “sin,” “Hell,” “Heaven,” and other gospel verities from the pastor’s
    messages.

20. The reclassification of the saved and lost to the “churched” and “unchurched.”
21. The marginalizing, or ostracizing, of all who are not avid promoters of the new Purpose Driven program.
22. Closed meetings between the pastor or chosen staff members without any reports made to the general membership.
23. Open hostility to members who do not openly embrace the new program, or who may have left for another church.

Geeze! I think encounter is 98% there!
But don’t worry. The brochure also has pointers on what to do if you’re church is becoming Purpose Driven.

If your church is in the initial stages of change (music or the first 40–day program), your church could be saved by
talking other church members, and with activist intervention by 10–20 percent of the membership. If nothing is done at this early stage, then by the time the program advances to step four, there is little that can be done except look for another church. Your church has been stolen and become a Purpose Driven entity in association with Saddleback Church of Orange County or Willow Creek of Chicago.
You must educate yourself, and others, so that you can mobilize the membership to effectively resist. “For God hath
not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Tim. 1:7).

I tell you what, if King James is good enough for Jesus and the disciples – it’s good enough for me.