As soon as I arrived, I found it quite strange to find a guest pastor preaching both in the morning and at night, but what impressed me most was the content of the morning message—certainly not for its biblical accuracy—whose title was...
“Living out God's purposes as a church — Why a purpose-driven church?”
To put it simply, it was the introduction to "The Purpose Driven Church"... and a rather strange one at that!
That Sunday, January 30, 2005, was a very symbolic date: the anniversary of the church of which I was once a member and, upon reflection, its last, because it was also the celebration of its definitive entry into the prophesied Laodicean era, becoming a wretched and apostate ecclesiastical enterprise…
Coincidentally, it was Carnival.
While the world followed its natural path to forgetting God through sex, alcohol, the invocation of entities and idols, and in the name of a fleeting, insane, and senseless "joy": immoralities and aberrations that not even a thousand "Ash Wednesdays" could justify!
At times like these, I get a faint glimpse of the true extent of God's love, because He doesn't immediately destroy this world... as He did with Sodom and Gomorrah.
While Satan was being worshipped in the streets, my greatest concern was for the Church, and I spent a good deal of time trying to understand how such pernicious content had entered "my Church"—Baptist, belonging to the convention!—the place where I grew up, learned the Word of God, and considered my second home, maintaining vertical and horizontal fellowship without major problems.
After a week I wrote this article to state, without any fear, that no ecclesiastical institution can save anyone…
For by grace you have been saved,
through faith;
And this is not from yourselves; it is the gift of God.
It is not from works, so that no one may boast.
I must confess that I'm no Sherlock Holmes to have suspected the operation of error from the outset: it was the most absolute coincidence—if such a thing exists—that, while reading the Bible with my wife the previous night, we not only came across, but delved into, debating the meaning, sentence by sentence, of 1 Peter 1:17, a passage theoretically used in one of the slides — somewhere in the middle of the presentation — and whose grotesque distortion could not go unnoticed.
But... what happened, after all, to make me feel so bad for so long?
It would be too easy to simply throw a series of biblical adjectives here and leave everything enigmatic enough for readers to just imagine what happened, but the Lord is so good that He allowed me to also be the "computer guy" assigned that morning and, duly authorized, to gather the material directly from the source!
After thorough research and many discoveries, this is the content I will now present and analyze in light of Scripture, ultimately offering a conclusion that you may or may not refute… provided it is based on proper biblical evidence.
And it was a Carnival Sunday… (Personal Account)
To answer the question posed in the title of the lecture — Why a purpose-driven church? From the very first slide, it becomes necessary to both distort and take the biblical text out of context.
To understand this better, observe the image and compare it with the original biblical passage within its context:
And Jesus answered and said to him:
Blessed are you, Simon Barjonas,
For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
For I also tell you that you are Peter,
And on this rock I will build my church.,
and the gates of hell will not prevail against it;
And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven;
and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven,
And whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
This reference to the building leads us directly to another significant passage where we can read:
Song of Ascents, by Solomon.
Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain.;
Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain.
It is useless for you to rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat—,
For in this way he gives sleep to his beloved.
It is important to highlight that my research is based on the "Corrected and Revised Edition, Faithful to the Original Text of João Ferreira de Almeida" — commonly known as "Almeida Corrigida e Fiel, abbreviated as "ACF" — and, even though it may seem like just a detail, this will soon prove to be an extremely relevant factor.
But let's return to the central line of reasoning and another question that arises: what is the connection between this small phrase where Christ affirms that he will build his Church and the so-called "purpose-driven church"?
With no obvious answer, let's move on to reading the original text of the second quote:
Listen to advice and accept correction, so that in the end you may be wise.
Many are the purposes in the heart of man,
But the Lord's counsel will prevail.
Can you see that in the presentation version there was a subtle manipulation of the word "purpose," which went from a "less advantageous" textual position to becoming prominent, even highlighted in red, on the slide?
Why would anyone specifically want to highlight that word?
For now, neither of the two quotes used serves as justification for us to affirm that the so-called "purpose-driven church" is "God's desire"... in fact, they don't explicitly say so, nor do they imply it between the lines: simply they don't say!
Some might think this is just excessive skepticism on my part, but there's still a lot more to add.
Did you see this other slide?
Were you able to spot the subtle—or not so subtle—substitutions that were made in a blatant attempt to justify something that is definitely not indicated in the original text?
He who descended is also the one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill all things.
And he himself gave some to the apostles,
and others for prophets,
and others for evangelists,
and others for pastors and teachers,
Desiring the perfecting of the saints,
for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ;
Until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God,
a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,
So that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine,
through the deceit of men who cunningly deceive fraudulently.
Before, following the truth in love,
Let us grow in every way into him who is the head, Christ.
It is astonishing to note that the slide manipulates words to imply that it is the "purpose-driven church" that will prepare us for such a state as described—spiritual maturity, protection against false doctrines, etc.—but simply reading the preceding verses is enough to understand that "the perfecting of the saints"—until we all reach unity in the faith as Christ sees fit—is the only true form of spiritual maturity.
My list of criticisms of the methods used by Mr. Rick Warren is extensive, but it's striking that the words highlighted in red are "purpose" and "let us grow"... and not "Christ"!
Firstly, the term "purpose" was intentionally placed where it does not appear in the original text and, even if justified by the rules of the Portuguese language, it already allows us to foresee the intention, at least subliminal, of its author.
Could it be that even these subtle and sordid psychological methods have now become tools of God?
I must vehemently disagree, as there are points that make Psychology and the Word of God mutually exclusive… practically antithetical! See:
- Psychology is centered on man; the Word of God is centered on God.
- The goal of Psychology is the happiness of the individual; the Word of God does not guarantee happiness to any individual.
- Psychology teaches that all things in life (including God) become means to an end — the happiness of the person.
- Psychology teaches that human nature is fundamentally good; the Bible teaches the exact opposite.
- Psychology teaches relativism, that the answers are within yourself, and that solutions to problems lie in the past—again, the Word of God rejects all of that.
This list is not my own work, but was written by Mack Dominick and is available on the website. The Sword of the SpiritThat was one of the pieces of information that shocked me the most, because the then "Minister of Religious Education" and wife of the church pastor was studying precisely... Psychology!
In strict chronological order, this text should appear before the “A Life with Purpose“"For here is the record of my very first contact with the ideas of Rick Warren: until then I had been engaging, with the due authorization and accompaniment of the pastor, with the superstitious and esoteric publications of the "spiritual warriors" such as Daniel Mastral and..." Rebecca Brown…
So, for someone who was practically soiled with fear of losing their "spiritual covering," having to discuss biblical distortions with the "angel of the church" caused even physical pain: no one, anywhere, had taught them how to behave upon discovering that their beloved pastor of over twenty years was becoming just another greedy apostate!
Despite this clash of reasons, I believe now would be the time to present some other absurd characteristics of the so-called "Purpose Driven Church" by transcribing some excerpts from Mac Dominick's study entitled:
Pragmatism in the Church
Purpose Driven Church
This term was coined by Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Community Church in South Los Angeles.
The idea is that a church should focus its vision on its ultimate purposes and structure its methodology in order to achieve those purposes: the term "purpose-driven" is synonymous with "results-oriented.".
In his book "The Purpose Driven Church," Rick Warren outlines the process of becoming "purpose-driven," and for the purposes of this analysis, the word "result" has been replaced with "purpose," as the meaning is the same.
His plan is as follows:
- Define the result.
- Demand results.
- Base the activities on achieving the result.
- Start the program to achieve the result (in this case, the result should be the exponential growth of the church).
According to "church growth experts," the population (in general) is becoming increasingly "spiritual": the new spirituality is not the spirituality consistent with the teachings of God's Word, but rather an inner search for happiness, true fulfillment, and purpose in life.
These same experts also reveal that the average lost, unchurched man demonstrates interest in and friendship with God, but feels repelled by the church. This individual is therefore seeking a path to God, but wants to avoid the traditional church, believing that the church is irrelevant and has failed to meet the needs of its members.
He feels that the church cannot relate to him where he lives and therefore he cannot feel comfortable in a church service.
Despite all the inhibitions created by the church, he is still seeking God and the resulting inner peace that finding God will bring to his life.
The natural conclusions drawn from this dilemma lead to a condemnation of the church by those who desire a new paradigm: they defend the idea that the failure is not with the individual seeking God, and certainly not with God himself; therefore, according to the proponents of the new paradigm, the old way of "doing church" is not suitable for modern man.
Modern man is seeking fulfillment and happiness, but those who are rigid in their old ways of thinking are, in reality, condemning current culture through a complete lack of identity and empathy with the world of this modern man.
Thus, there is a real need for a new paradigm: a new way of thinking, and a new way of "doing church" that is sensitive to the needs of those who seek God.
The church needs to become "sensitive to those who are seeking," or else this current generation will be lost.
In many ways, the church has truly failed.
The church has failed to fulfill the Great Commission.
The church has failed to live a life set apart to the point where the lost cannot see Jesus Christ exemplified in the church's daily actions.
The church failed to establish a high standard of piety.
The church has become so distracted and enamored with the world that it is very difficult to distinguish most Christians from their unbelieving neighbors: church members are so busy with their jobs, families, and leisure activities that they no longer have time for the Lord.
Yes, the church needs to change, but this change is far from becoming "sensitive to those who seek": the members of the church of Jesus Christ need to obey the Scriptures!
In particular, church members need to obey the commandment “…be holy, because I am holy!” This is the most repeated commandment in all of God’s Word, yet most Christians completely ignore it: personal holiness can only be exemplified by a righteous and separate life.
If that is the case, Christians should not become like the world in order to win the world: the “seeker-sensitive” approach requires that the seeker feel comfortable when coming to church, but… how can the church ensure that the seeker will feel comfortable?
- The church should not have traditional-style pews, nor should it appear too formal.
- Searchers are encouraged to “come as they are”: there is no specific dress code and casual clothing is encouraged.
- The attire for the ministry staff and the pastor should also be casual.
- The venue should include the latest video and audio equipment.
- Dramatic productions with spiritual themes should be used to subtly convey a religious or moral message.
- Preaching about sin, about mortifying the old self, and about self-examination would truly leave the seeker uncomfortable; therefore, sermons should be geared more toward life applications, stress reduction, meeting felt needs, daily relationships, raising children, self-esteem, and other subjects based more on modern psychology than on "Thus says the LORD.".
- The music played during a worship service should mimic the musical style that the seeker listens to daily on their favorite radio station.
- The Bible in the translation of João Ferreira de Almeida, the Corrected and Faithful version — the Reformation Bible, equivalent to the King James Version in English — should not be used, but rather one of the various modern translations, which will make the seeker more comfortable.
- The seeker needs to see that the church's message is relevant to their daily life.
- The seeker needs to see that Christianity works and that it will bring them immediate results.
The truth of the matter is that the answers sought by the seeker are not the answers provided in the Word of God, for God NEVER promises the believer—much less the lost man!—that he will live in perpetual happiness!
Indeed, the believer receives the fruits of joy, but true human joy and happiness are not synonymous terms: from a human perspective, the happiness and fulfillment that the seeker so fervently desires may have no connection with God or even with reality; therefore, the only method by which the church can meet the perceived needs of the seeker is through emotional manipulation and/or deception.
In other words, the church needs to conform to the seeker's culture to become "sensitive to those who seek," contradicting God's Word which says:
Adulterers and adulteresses,
Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?
Therefore, whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
This warning from Scripture demands the exact opposite approach to ministry, and when a church defies the commands of Scripture, that church is simply playing games with church.
Evangelism
Proponents of the New Paradigm Church are not entirely wrong when they give high priority to the Great Commission: as stated earlier, the church has failed to obey this command from Jesus Christ himself.
However, those involved in Results-Oriented Religion do not understand the true purposes and mission of the church: the mission of the church is the edification and equipping of the saints, reaching the lost for Christ and subsequently nurturing these converts so that they reach spiritual maturity.
The third point of this mission statement could be summarized as "evangelism": the core of the issue comes to light when one realizes that the New Paradigm Church transforms the entire mission of the church into evangelism and subjugates edification and empowerment to the point of virtual elimination.
The missing ingredient in this formula is the distinction between the mission of the "gathered church" and the mission of the "dispersed" church.
After sanctification, the primary mission of the scattered church is evangelism: to lead others to Christ.
However, evangelism should be a low priority when the church is gathered: the church is NOT gathered there for the purpose of evangelism, but for the edification, equipping, and strengthening of its members!
This makes Rick Warren's claim of "a church for the unchurched" a complete oxymoron: any organization for the unchurched... simply isn't a church!
Any pastor who claims to lead such a "church" is simply playing the church game.
Pragmatism
Christian pragmatism is the philosophy that declares: "If something works, it is working as a direct result of God's blessings.".
While this is certainly the case in many situations, such a broad and generic statement is simply not true: if we were to assume that this is the case, the Roman Catholic Church and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons) would be the two most blessed organizations on the face of the Earth!
The "acid test" for any religious organization is very simple: does that organization or methodology adhere to the principles of God's Word?
If such principles are being violated, then success—growth, or any other positive measure from a human perspective—is the result of a source other than the “hand of God” in these so-called “ministries.”.
Cultural Relevance
The Church of Jesus Christ is defined and receives its instructions from the written Word of God: the Bible is very concise in its assessment that the church should remain separate from and uncontaminated by the world.
Do not love the world or anything in the world.
If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
Because everything that exists in the world,
the lust of the flesh,
the lust of the eyes
and the pride of life,
It is not from the Father, but from the world.
And the world is passing away, and also its desires;
But whoever does the will of God lives forever.
And do not be conformed to this world,
but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,
so that you may prove what is the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God.
Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this:
To visit orphans and widows in their affliction,
and guard against the corruption of the world.
These and other passages in Scripture draw a distinct line of demarcation between the Christian and the world.
This argument raises red flags when evaluating the marketing strategies of the new paradigm movement: in the pursuit of relevance to achieve church growth, the culture of the world has begun to define the church in place of the Word of God.
Most of the population has a "ME FIRST" culture, and their main questions are: "What's in it for me?" "How can I feel better about myself?"... All that matters is ME and nobody else.
When we say that culture is concerned with the self, there are several aspects of pleasing the self that need to be explored.
A member of the EU generation can be reached through the following methods:
- Solve his problems by meeting his needs.
- Help him achieve his goals.
- Build your ego.
- Keep him entertained and satisfied.
The first three aspects can be addressed using the tools of modern psychology or through emotional manipulation. The aspect of entertainment and satisfaction is the easiest, as there are many talented individuals who are very eager to display their talents to any audience willing to watch: adapting the balance of these methods to church services requires only a shift in philosophy from true worship to the gratification of the flesh!
Suddenly, God becomes more of a "fairy godmother from children's stories" than the God of Scripture, and as a result, the church suddenly becomes relevant to the individual of this "me" generation, but... is this church still a true church?
Clearly, such questions are irrelevant in today's new paradigm, since the result has already been achieved: the exponential growth of the church.
Growth
This promotion is trying to sell the idea that it's time to jump on the bandwagon and trigger a transition in your church from a traditional, separate position to the new paradigm model because God is blessing the new dream of how to do church with numbers that are leading entire countries to revival!
Now, who in their right mind wouldn't want to receive this outpouring of God's blessings?
What Christian wouldn't want to see thousands of people converting to Christ?
What pastor wouldn't want his church to be the largest church in the history of Christianity?
In addition to asking these questions, one must also be very careful not to be even slightly critical of these successes, because such a critical spirit would be the same as criticizing the outpouring of God's Spirit.
Furthermore, if someone concludes that GROWTH = BLESSING, logic dictates that NO GROWTH = CURSE.
Based on the conclusion that "no growth is the result of God's curse on a given ministry," there are thousands of pastors and missionaries who have worked faithfully for years without seeing visible fruits of their efforts who have undoubtedly been cursed by God.
Could this possibility be true?
If numerical growth is to be the basis for God's blessings, wouldn't the Roman Catholic Church and the Mormon Church be the two most blessed organizations that "use" the name of Jesus Christ on the face of the Earth?
Does this mean that any small effort is a sad failure in God's eyes?
Should everyone play church with numbers or risk incurring God's curse?
Are all true, God-fearing pastors dreaming this "new dream"?
Where did this new dream originate?
Is this "dream" the result of the leadership of God's Holy Spirit, or is it a marketing tactic that someone devised to achieve a specific outcome?
If Christians honestly evaluated the New Paradigm Church Game based solely on the Word of God, no one would participate in this frivolous pastime anymore.
The crux of the problem lies in the fact that the vast majority of professing Christians prefer to follow the views of some man rather than what God has clearly stated in His Word.
There are many, but SO MANY other complaints presented and analyzed in this study—where I had the privilege of acting as a reviewer and layout designer—that it ended up becoming a booklet with more than 120 pages: I cannot offer it for free to everyone, but it is available online at the website. The Sword of the Spirit.
The Datashow Verdict
This is the last slide of the presentation and, based on what we've observed so far, it was meticulously planned to sensitize the audience by subtly threatening them with a philosophical reference to the brevity of human existence, but... is that what the original biblical text says?
And if you call on the Father,
without discrimination,
judge according to each person's work,
walk in fear,
during the time of your pilgrimage.
This is exactly the passage I had discussed with my wife the previous night, and—if it weren't for her, I admit I might be chanting mantras with my eyes closed in some black-painted temple today!—I was so stunned by this absurd simplification that I was compelled to save the file to discuss it with the pastor… and that's how I ended up researching and writing everything you've read so far.
Note that the original biblical passage highlights:
- God does not judge people for who they are (white, black, yellow, purple…), but rather for their deeds: consulting the dead, magic, spiritism, homosexuality, impure thoughts…
- We must walk in fear! That is, we must have reverence and respect for everything related to God, the Eternal Father… including His Word. And this fear should last for the rest of our lives.
Now… let's see what the text on the slide tells us:
NOTHING!!
It's just a harmless phrase that can be used by any spiritualist or even someone who practices Afro-Brazilian religions, because referring to the Lord God as "father" simply doesn't mean anything!
How many times have we heard the phrase "God is father" coming from the mouths of people so far removed from the truth?
In fact, this phrase presented on the slide is COMPLETELY ECUMENICAL and we can even consider it to have a strong spiritualist tendency: the use of the term "temporary residents" highlighted in red leans more towards reincarnation than towards the fear of God!
After this shock, I was immediately overcome with a great sense of guilt upon realizing that absolutely no one from the church had bothered to check the Bible to verify the accuracy of the presented texts!
Perhaps simply because they believed there had been some prior pastoral evaluation of what was being presented by the data projector, perhaps out of sheer laziness, but certainly refusing to follow the behavior praised by the apostle Paul:
Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica,
because they gladly received the word,
examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
Finally, in the middle of the presentation, a slide appeared that I selected to conclude this analysis, irrefutably demonstrating the complete confusion that prevails in the minds of those who claim to need this so-called "purpose-driven church" to answer the questions society is asking, but forget an important and well-known passage where it is written:
All Scripture is God-breathed,
and useful for teaching,
to retort,
to correct,
to instruct in justice;
In order for the man of God to be perfect,
and perfectly instructed for every good work.
Forgive my extreme frankness, but any pastor who doesn't know how to use God's word to answer society's questions... simply isn't fit to be a pastor, and shouldn't even be called a Christian!
The perfect illustration of that morning would be an inert audience, mouths agape, ready to swallow the spurious theology that the "guest pastor" was spouting as if it were the spark of a revolution… and, come to think of it, it certainly was—the revolution of APOSTASY! — and the person with the widest mouth, greedily consuming all that feces… was once “my shepherd”.
Beware lest anyone take you captive through philosophy and empty deceit,
according to the tradition of men,
according to the rudiments of the world,
and not according to Christ.
Many other things bothered me during the service, such as the mention of signing a "membership pact" which completely contradicted... James 5:12, ...subtle mentions of a pastor who made decisions without presenting them during administrative sessions, but worst of all, in the end, with all of this weighing on my heart, I had to listen to the church's vice-president happily stating:
— THIS IS THE PURPOSE-DRIVEN CHURCH! THE DATA PROJECTOR IS PART OF THE PURPOSE-DRIVEN CHURCH!
What a pain!
What a weight!
I ended up being collaterally responsible for the whole trap that ensnared everyone present and, worse than that, (from a certain point onwards) glimpsing the Truth!
It was also my fault!!!
That was the message preached on the morning of that Sunday when the anniversary of the church was being celebrated—a church from which I was never excluded, but which ceased to exist and became an apostate ecclesiastical enterprise: the 16 years that now separate me from those moments are more than enough for me to be certain that I received a legitimate and magnificent deliverance from the Lord simply by reading and discussing the Bible with my wife the night before: I am increasingly certain that He already knew.!
And so, through this text, I try to offer my apologies, showing something of which I am certain.
I don't care if operating a data projector makes the service more beautiful: I never again want to be blamed for spreading falsely biblical ideas, because I know very well that...
So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.
Second Hosea 4:6, What causes God's people to perish is a lack of knowledge, a fact proven by Jesus Christ himself in Matthew 22:29.
My commitment and responsibility before God has been to study and disseminate His Word correctly, applying both exegesis and hermeneutics, and striving not to be led astray by fragments of text taken out to justify unproven ideas.
I honestly don't know if you, the reader, will find meaning in this publication, but I guarantee that you are facing a legitimate record of guilt and fear, as well as a warning to be aware that this doctrine uses strange foundations and unbiblical methods to achieve a questionable purpose.
The Spiritual Divorce Registry
Following the account above, everything I describe in “A Life with Purpose”"And if I am revealing and updating the contents of this letter today, it is because it was of no use.".
I do not do this to shame anyone, but so that they may know the level of spiritual blindness that has contaminated and destroyed a Baptist church: the promise recorded in the first paragraph was kept until a response was given, and, as there was no solution, the letter lost all value, becoming merely an object of study.
I'm still keeping names secret because, I repeat, I don't intend to embarrass anyone.
See the result at the end and understand why there's no going back to the church I once called "mine"...
Epistle to the Angel of “AcabaAli”
Rio de Janeiro, May 17, 2005.
Beloved pastor Xongas,
Given the difficulties in arranging a personal meeting, I am writing this message to express some of what has been happening to me, everything I have been doing, and my points of view, in order to clarify any misunderstanding that may have occurred between us recently. Please understand that this is a personal letter and not a study; only you will be aware of its content!
(I only broke this promise after receiving the response and invalidating this letter)
First of all, I want to emphasize that I have deep affection and great respect for you, that I have always taken you as an example in my life, and that I would not want you to be hurt by me for any reason. These feelings extend to your entire family and, by extension, to the entire AcabaAli Baptist Church — my "cradle": the place where I learned the foundation of everything I know and everything I am.
Because this relationship is not brief, I can also affirm that you know me well enough to understand that I am not foolish enough to commit the sin of rebellion, for that is the same as witchcraft… and my intentions are to seek the Lord our God with all my heart and all my understanding. You also know that even in my recent past, while seeking to set my life right before God, I was sincere enough to expose my own mistakes and never intended to be false before the church, much less before God, from whom we can hide nothing.
Before continuing, I must apologize for what I have detected to be the source of the message left on my answering machine and try, at least, to explain a little of everything that happened:
You have been regularly informed of my studies, and I believe that the beginning of all this confusion stemmed from them: I need you to know that there are many people who follow my so-called "research," and that I have never hidden any of these texts from anyone.
Now I'll ask a rather unusual question: what would you do if you saw your mother pointing a revolver at her own head?
Calm down! I'm not crazy! This grotesque illustration is a way of representing how I felt on the day of the "excellent ideas"... perhaps not immediately, but as my research deepened and I learned about the fallacies implanted in the philosophy in question, I began to get quite worried: I see our Minister of Religious Education as an almost maternal figure, since she herself taught me the biblical rudiments.
I cherish many memories from my childhood… and the mention of such an event in a study can be compared to someone jumping to try and stop a gunshot, an attempt to avoid something worse. Note that no names were mentioned and that few people know the extent of the communities I frequent, therefore it is unlikely that someone who did not participate in the aforementioned discussion would know who was involved.
Wouldn't it be very strange if, suddenly, I hid a text from the people who, every week, when they make copies of the studies, also make a copy for their own reading?
Wouldn't it be suspicious to change my behavior, preventing them from reading a simple study?
It was precisely in the week that I made that quote that you learned, in a rather shocking way, about the information above… and now, a few weeks later, I can affirm that my intention succeeded, since nobody identified anything beyond what was expected.
Even so, this "non-identification" does not exempt me from apologizing for the quote: please accept it and make it known to my beloved sister.
Believing that I have now clarified my possible failing before my beloved pastor, I intend to explain the sincere reason for my absence:
Pastor, I don't care if Rick Warren has fifteen thousand members or more in his church… I don't know him personally and I don't want to. The only things I've seen of him are his writings, and in those there are subtle deceptions, contradictions to the Bible itself, and even heresies.
I know you already have the studies and I don't intend to go into a detailed discussion of these topics, but please know that, in addition to the Portuguese versions, I have the original English versions (a language you know I understand) of Rick Warren's works, and I have indeed made some surprising observations: as you yourself informed me, the translator into Portuguese is a very good man, as he managed to "soften" certain facts that would cause profound strangeness if transcribed directly.
As just one example, I cite pages 79 and 259, where the terms "a breath prayer" and "nothing but a murmur" are used, terms that in English mean one and the same thing – "breath prayer"!
I address this subject in an appendix of my own authorship, which I intend to attach to this letter.
Does the biblical quote to "examine everything and retain what is good" apply to books on Buddhism? Hinduism? Should we learn anything from Satanists?
Regardless of the answer, my personal belief is clear: NO!!! Because bad company corrupts good morals, and friendship with the world is enmity with God.
I cannot navigate a river full of forks where I will never know which path to take, as many of them lead to deep precipices… or rather, I do know, but the average Christian who reads and absorbs without questioning will not realize the deception they are falling into!
I repeat my request: carefully read pages 79 and 259 of "The Purpose Driven Life"—even if the use of 15 different versions of the Bible (with the alleged distortion of 10 of them!) doesn't convince you, aren't Eastern meditation and vain repetitions sufficient reasons to give up this "flirtation" with Rick Warren, São José dos Campos, and their psycho-marketing methodologies for building a church?
Every time one of the leaders declares "this is their church" with a smile on their face, whether because of the worship or for any other reason, I see the techniques beginning to be applied…
Another thing, now on a personal level, that hurt me deeply (…and I'm telling you so it doesn't remain hidden) was your attitude towards my questioning of the so-called "40 Days of Purpose": not only I, but many other people saw, in 2004, the public announcement from the pulpit that this activity would be carried out during that year, as well as the recommendation that we should acquire our own materials… among other things.
Even though this didn't happen and was "put away in a corner," I don't believe I need to carry a "written document" proving that such a warning was given.
Honestly, I was alarmed when you said that to me.
If it was a joke, know that it was very misunderstood. If it wasn't, forgive me, but my life has been, is, and I intend it to remain guided by the Bible and... James 5:12, Because what comes out of my mouth is what I will or will not do... without written papers or recorded tapes.
My sincerity and truthfulness before God are something I don't need to feign, for the Lord himself is witness to my loyalty: even when faced with the possibility of my exclusion, I did not hide my own mistakes and my premarital sin.
Please know that this has saddened not only me, but also my wife, my mother, my sisters, my nephews… my entire family, who looked up to your pastorate, were shocked and deeply saddened. Our whole lives have always revolved around you and the AcabaAli Baptist Church, especially mine: my growth, my baptism, my marriage… even during the sad times! We had deep respect and admiration for you, and now we are truly shaken.
We have not lost our faith in God, and our loyalty and fear of Jesus Christ remain unwavering… I have not even ceased to respect you, but I can no longer go to church and remain silent, without revealing everything I have discovered… and in no way do I want to create a shock within the church: it is better that I remain quiet than to be considered a rebel, or to scandalize someone, or even for them to think that I am going against you.
I am just a sheep and, in the face of the text of Leviticus 5:1, I consider my mission accomplished.
Ah! Before you consider the possibility that I'm going to some other church, know that this is also proving impossible, as heresies abound in the most unsuspecting places. At first I thought I was becoming psychotic, but I asked other people for help to compare statements made from various pulpits with the one true statement of the Bible, and the picture of apostasy began to reveal itself.
For your information, I went to... Cafofo Baptist Church On a Tuesday, when the pastors of the group that supports Ana Méndez meet, to try to warn them about the heresies found in the book “High-Level War”"(which I presented to you)..."
Want to hear some of the absurd claims I've heard? Go to my website.
Please be aware that some of these statements came from Pastor Herdeiro himself, and others from the pastor of the Chapéu Baptist Church… and know that even without having spoken to me, some other Baptist pastors still belong to this group. In fact, I even called the CBB (Brazilian Baptist Convention), which gave me the CBC's (Brazilian Baptist Convention) phone number, where I spoke with the president pastor… and the only answer I received from him was discouraging:
Yes, my son… our churches are full of esotericism…
My beloved Xongas, now at the end of this letter I speak as your friend and your son in faith… as someone who was a living witness to your life and ministry as they unfolded: I love you like a father I never had and I never want to be in conflict with you, Nailia, or anyone else, because my struggle is not against flesh and blood… you know very well what I am fighting against.
I am nobody and have no authority to exhort you, but I humbly ask that you reconsider the things you are getting involved in and dragging an entire church along with you. Do not be deceived by biblical quotes taken out of context or by apparent good intentions… the only way to build a church is the most difficult: the total leadership of the Holy Spirit of God.
Once again, I ask for forgiveness for any sin I may have committed against you or against Nailia.
I place myself at your disposal for judgment and sanction, for you are the authority over me, but this time my only possible mistake is clinging solely and firmly to the word of God.
I pray to God that He blesses and protects you, as well as your entire family… because I will never stop doing so!
Yours sincerely
Teóphilo Noturno, servant of the Lord.
The truth is that I finished writing this letter crying, and that's nothing to be proud of: this letter was a last, practically desperate act! Between the mention of the "excellent ideas" and the writing of this letter, five weeks passed during which I went to church several times, but only once was I able to meet him. The conversation that took place was completely unsatisfactory:
— Night owl! He's missing!
— Yeah… I'm doing some "excursions"...
This is the place to go on excursions!
— You still haven't called me to talk...?
(Silence…)
And that was it!
Initially for five weeks… today for more than 21 years.
Was I supposed to forget everything I had learned and witnessed and simply return to the pragmatic church as a "pew warmer"?
Faced with this seemingly insurmountable distance, I had to resort to writing a letter… mainly because I believe I can express myself better in writing than in speaking. And this action generated the text transcribed above… and, as a bonus, also gave me renewed enthusiasm to restore and remodel the website.
JOYFUL, RELEVANT, EXCITING:
RICK WARREN TEACHES HOW TO FILL THE CHURCH
…OF TARES!
But, in the end... what was the pastor's response to this letter?
Again, it was a "loving" message recorded on my answering machine... I listened to it and repeated it several times...
After that, I decided there was no need to go back there!
Do I really need to repeat everything I've already written (which can even be seen here on this website)?
My message is this: I am 100% faithful to the biblical text and, even though I have a deep affection for it, I cannot remain silent and accept strange doctrines.
Excuse my rudeness, but honestly… may God, and only He, forgive and bless me.
The Silence of the Sentinels
In Brazil, those who today complain about the vilification of the Constitution by the Supreme Federal Court should have risen up in protest against what Mr. Rick Warren did to the Bible more than a decade ago. However, laziness and cowardice, disguised as good social conduct, have plunged us into apostasy, dragged us to the beginning of sorrows, and will soon throw us into tribulation: who, alone or united in legions, will alter the prophecies recorded in the Word of God?
My mother died missing those people who for so long called us "brothers," but who not even a simple representative... his burial They were able to send it!
The arrogance of the "Minister of Religious Education" led to her receiving the title of "pastor," but since that doesn't exist in the Bible, I know very well that nothing spiritually good can come from a source that flows with so much bitter water…
And then there are still readers who think I'm exaggerating when I claim that I witnessed Rick Warren installing the apostasy we are experiencing in 2021: if the opening image is a rudimentary montage where he dances, in ecstasy, before witches and Muslims after setting fire to a temple… it's because in real life he has already managed to promote far worse misfortunes than that!!
Deaf and in the midst of a pandemic, God has allowed the preservation of my family and my faith.
Thank you so much for reading this far, and I can assure you that your collaboration will be very important: comment, share… react!
Thank you for reading this far, and I truly need any help you can offer: comments, shares, and reactions help spread this content, which was produced with the intention of contributing to the edification of the Body of Christ in the world.
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https://cutt.ly/warren_igreja
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