| JANUARY
31, 2006 - Rick Warren is making world news
as he is rapidly organizing a world wide
network of "Purpose Driven"
Churches to establish his "Global Peace
Plan". His Saddleback Church serves as
a role model for the churches that go
through the pre-defined eight step
transformation process.
Europe has it's own
Saddleback Church and it's own Rick Warren. Is
it a coincidence, that yours truly lives in
Drachten, the Netherlands, where Europe's
own Saddleback Church is located?
Whether it's a coincidence or not, is not
really that important.
It's more important to know what's going
on in the Bethel Church, where pastor
Orlando Bottenbley has seen his church
become what is known to be the "fastest
growing Church in the Netherlands".
With a membership list of over 2000, and
counting, Bottenbley may not only call
himself the pastor of what is known as a
Mega Church, he may also call himself a
personal friend of Rick Warren!
An on january 30th, 2006, it was time for
the Bethel Church to be introduced to The
Sixth Step: Deal With The Opposition!
A report.
The Bethel church is a true succes
story...
When in the 1990's the Toronto
Blessing was sweaping across the world,
Bottenbley exposed this unbiblical trend.
This gave him a national reputation of a
"Bible believing Christian". His
church quickly became a place where Rootical
Christians of different denominational
backgrounds found a place where they would
be able to have Spiritual fellowship. Or so
they thought...
The press picked up the story and
Bottenbley became a known guest in magazines
and television programms. The Bethel church
got in touch with Willow Creek and to make a
long story short, they seem to have now
become the model church for Europe when it
comes to the Purpose Driven trade mark.
Rick Warren, who calls himself
"Rupert Murdoch's Pastor", also
has a success story. His Saddleback Church
exceeds 30,000 enlisted members. Warren's
book "The Purpose Driven Life"
generates millions of dollars for Rupert
Murdoch's media empire as churches all over
the world force their congregations to buy
the book and "Do 40 Days of Purpose"...
Rick Warren recently spoke about a
"second reformation", in which he
announced his own Purpose: a global network
of Purpose Driven churches all working
together with the State and Businesses
world-wide in a "Global Peace
Plan" to create a new world order that
will bring about the second comming of
"Jesus Christ". We
have reported about this scary situation.
The Purpose Driven Process has alarmed
many "Bible believing" Christians
world wide. Denominational as well as
non-denominational Christians blow the
whistle. This Transformation of the churches
into one global Purpose Driven network
serves a purpose. The purpose of a
"Global Peace" after which Jesus
Christ will return. According to Rick
Warren, that is.
What the Toronto Blessing couldn't do,
Rick Warren with his New Age and
Televangelist connections can. Orlando
Bottenbley and his staff do the best they
can turn to the whole Bethel Church into the
Purpose Driven Paradigm. And they're quite
succesfull. The Free Baptist Bethel Church
in Drachten (Netherlands) is the role model
for the Global Purpose Driven Network in
Europe. It's truly... Europe's Own
Saddleback Church.
Bottenbley himself is known to be a
"Bible believing" Christian. But
as we will see in this article, he didn't
show much of that yesterday when he
activated the Sixth Step. It couldn't
be different. As the Eight Step program used
to transform churches into the Purpose
Driven Paradigm is carefully implemented, Step
Six would inevitably be next on the
agenda someday.
Why is this important? The Bethel Church
in Drachten leads the Purpose Driven
Movement in the Netherlands, and isn't
called the "fastest growing church in
the Netherlands" for nothing. And the
connection with Rick Warren leads way back,
from before the time Rick Warren was called
"America's Pastor" by Time
Magazine.
Let's recall these eight steps. On a
website called Church Transitions,
they're listed:
As you can see, the eight step programme
reads like a manipulation manuel. Until the
fourth step, total secrecy is required in
the process. Very carefully you have to plant
stuff with your key leaders,
and when you've done that you can share
(initiate) all members after which you
simply implement (do it).
Of course, when the fifth step is
activated, this is where the action begins.
And there's a lot of action in Drachten. The
Bethel Church allready has key leaders
that continually go to Willow Creek and
Saddleback with a frequency similar to that
of Roman Bishops visiting the Vatikan. They
allways come back with material and
impressive success stories. The
implementation of the programms is in full
swing.
The inevitable Sixth Step was
activated january 30th, 2006. It was time to
"deal with the opposition".
Away with the foundation, so it seems. Rick
Warren is quoted in this context as
saying:
But when you define the vision,
you’re choosing who leaves. You say,
“But Rick, they’re pillars of the
church.” Now you know what pillars are.
Pillars are people who hold things up.
There's something wrong with this
statement. The
literal meaning of the word
"Pastor" is shepherd. Pastors
are told to "feed
the flock of God which is among you".
But the above statement shows a shepherd
that doesn't even care about the sheep at
all. When they hold things up, you must
choose that they leave. Regardless of their
identity as a sheep of the flock of God
which is among you.
Obviously we are very interested in
witnessing just how the Purpose Driven
Movement "deals with the opposition".
We can read reports from all over the world
containing tragic stories about true
Christians who are forced to leave a
congregation where they have been all their
life. Rick Warren calls them "old
pillars"...
The Bethel church has not yet a name for
them. But they surely activated step six on
January 30th, 2006. Members of the Bethel
church were invited on that monday evening
to a presentation entitled "Rick
Warren... Where does the critique come
from?" Questions could be asked as
well.
Your's truly went to the evening and
witnessed with open mouth how the unbiblical
reasonings, and even untruths were poured
out over the heads of the believers who
attended the evening. Displaying that he
didn't forget his psychology study,
Bottenbley did his best to convince the
audience how Rick Warren could never
possibly be a false teacher. But in the same
time, he seems to have forgotten some
crucial elements of his theological study as
we will notice further on. Or did he
unwillingly show the big gap between the two
studies?
The evening itself was held in the
Youth's Quarters of the Bethel Complex,
located in the Industrial zone of Drachten.
The small hall is called (translated)
"Nuff Space" but was quickly
filled with well over 150 people. It was
obvious, that the staff didn't expect that
much worried believers which was later
confirmed as Bottenbley said he only had
expected about 50 people...
Not all people came because they were
worried about Rick Warren and his teachings,
though. One person, when asked what he
thought about "the critique from Bible
believing Christians", answered: "The
question is: do we have to look at it just
like these Bible believing Christians?"
And it seems like there was a "Rick
Warren fanclub" as well, cheering out
loud from time to time as if they were on a
football game rather then a congregation of
concerned believers.
The evening was opened by Bottenbley. He
told the congregation that he was going to
have a long speech, after which questions
could be asked. That speech was long,
indeed. By the time he was finished, most
people were exhausted.
The speech itself was very interesting.
Although it is very painfull to hear a
"Bible believing" Christian
defending a system of New Age apostacy, it
was a revealing event.
Bottenbley started by saying that he
personally knew Rick Warren, as well as
other major figureheads in the Purpose
Driven movement like Willow Creek's Bill
Hybels. He told the audience how he had
contact with Rick Warren even before the man
became famous. The connection is obviously
deep.
He then went on to paint a bad picture of
the opposition. He told stories how people
received "threats". And of course,
he himself had received threats. As he read
one of the e-mails he received, it became
clear he considered biblically based
critique a "threat" as well. There
was nothing threatening in the e-mail, only
a strong warning against the obvious false
teachings of Rick Warren.
Bottenbley clearly set the tone when he
read that "threatening" e-mail. A
part of the audience was sincerely shocked
as people heard how their pastor was being
told to believe what the Bible says. That
was threatening indeed... They had all the
understanding in the world, when he went on
to say: "Sometimes, I don't even read
that stuff anymore". We have to assume
that he's talking about the correspondence,
here...
A lot of effort was put in painting a
truly bad picture of the opposition. In the
Netherlands, the two people best known for
their critique on the Purpose Driven
Movement are writer Arie Geelhoed and pastor
van Berghem. Van Berghem has published a
paraphrased translation of Warren Smith's
outstanding book "Deceived on
Purpose". Bottenbley mentioned the
book, and said: Everything in this book is
van Berghem parroting Warren Smith".
Subtle deception, given the fact that is was
intended to forward the message of Warren
Smith's book to the dutch reading public.
According to Bottenbley, basically
"all" critique against Rick Warren
comes from Warren Smith. He did his best to
paint Warren Smith as a paranoid ex-new ager
with a conspiracy theory on a lonely
mission. And to a Dutch speaking audience
that has never heard of the Biblical
research of James Sundquist or Noah
Hutchings, such a thing is easily said. But
is it true? English reading people know very
well this is not the case. And the critique
on the Purpose Driven Movement doesn't come
from one particular side either.
James Sundquist, who wrote the book
"Who's Driving The Purpose Driven
Church", told the author of this
article he was surprised by this statement
of Bottenbley. He responded:
I am a good friend of Warren Smith's we
pray together and support each other's
ministry. His book complements mine. But
there is another great book that just came
out opposing Rick Warren by Pastor Bob
DeWaay entitled Redefining Christianity.
He is also a colleague of mine.
So the pastor you refer to is
wrong because there are a number of
pastors, ministries and authors throughout
the world who are opposing Rick Warren,
including Dr. John MacArthur, who exposed
Warren in a chapter in his book called
Fool's Gold. Dave Hunt, Jacob Prasch
(UK), Richard Bennett, Perry Rockwood
(Canada's oldest Christian national radio
ministry), Roger Oakland, David Cloud,
Dusty Peterson (UK wrote documentary
exposing the Alpha Course), Cecil Andrews
(TakeHeed Ministries in Ireland), Despatch
Magazine in Australia, Ken Ham (Answers in
Genesis), Loren Davis (well known
Evangelist in Africa), Richard Bennett (Berean
Beacon and former Roman Catholic priest),
Dr. Noah Huthings & Dr. Larry
Spargimino of Southwest Radio Church
(America's longest running Christian radio
national program), and a host of others listed
in my book and online, have all come
out against Purpose Driven nightmare.
In the last few years I have been a
guest on about 1,000 radio stations on the
following and related topics. So
there are many Christian radio stations
who have given me a platform to come out
against Warren's teachings.
I have also documented true accounts of
Christians throughout the U.S. and Canada
who have been purpose-driven from their
churches for opposing Rick Warren's
teachings and programs and/or who have
refused to sign Warrenite covenants.
So much for the statement that it's only
Warren Smith doing it. But it was one of the
strongest points in the defense of Rick
Warren.
There was more said about Warren Smith.
Rick Warren reportedly told Bottenbley
personally that he had tried many times to
get in contact with Warren Smith to
"talk it over". Not in public, of
course... As if it was a personal problem
between two people.
Repeatly, Bottenbley spoke about the
critics as "negative" and said
things like "they're only critisizing".
But is that the standard according to which
Christians are encouraged to judge by? The
Bible states in Psalm 53:
God looked down from heaven upon the
children of men, to see if there were
[any] that did understand, that did seek
God. Every one of them is gone back: they
are altogether become filthy; [there
is] none that doeth good, no, not one.
(Psalm
53:2-3)
And so, it is obvious that it is only
true how there is none that doeth good. It
is something to consider. It shows the
possibility that man can do things which are
not good. It is because of this truth, that
Jesus has commanded all kinds of things for
His church to prevent what can best be
described as church-fascism.
Rick Warren's connections with Robert
Schuller came up. These connections have
been well covered on many websites and also
in the book Deceived on Purpose. It was very
revealing, to hear Bottenbley defend Robert
Schuller.
Robert
Schuller is interviewed for the New Age
Unity Church. In that interview, he clearly
identified himself as a self conscious New
Ager:
Q: Dr. Schuller, we hear a lot of talk
these days about the New Age, the Age of
Aquarius, the type of New Age thinking
that we are involved in with Holistic
healing and various other things that are
part of what is called the New Age. Will
you describe the role of what you might
consider the New Age minister in the '80s
and beyond?
A:Well, I think it depends upon where
you're working. I believe that the
responsibility in this Age is to
positivize religion. Now this probably
doesn't have much bearing to you people,
being Unity people, you're positive. But I
talk a great deal to groups that are not
positive... even to what we would call
Fundamentalists who deal constantly with
words like sin, salvation, repentance,
guilt, that sort of thing. So when I'm
dealing with these people... what we have
to do is positivize the words that have
classically only had a negative
interpretation. (from an
address at Unity Village, Unity tape)
Given the fact that Bottenbley is
considered in the Netherlands to be an ikon
of "Bible believing Christianity",
it is at least strange to note how he has no
problem with Robert Schuller, a man who so
clearly identifies himself as a "New
Age minister", indirectly teaching his
own church how to be "positive".
Schuller openly says that Fundamentalist
are "not positive". After all,
they "deal constantly with words
like sin, salvation, repentance, guilt, that
sort of thing." Take into
consideration, that Fundamentalist
Christians are the same as "Bible
Believing" Christians. Just
recently, the press had this to say about
Rick Warren:
Warren predicts that fundamentalism, of
all varieties, will be "one of the
big enemies of the 21st century."
"Muslim fundamentalism, Christian
fundamentalism, Jewish fundamentalism,
secular fundamentalism - they're all
motivated by fear. Fear of each other."
It is not so difficult to see what's
going on with Purpose Driven. Step by step,
churches are being transformed for the New
Age. And it has now come to the point that
an ikon of "Bible believing"
christians in the Netherlands leads
"the fastest growing Church in the
Netherlands" straight into to arms such
people as Warren and Schuller with an
obvious New World Order agenda.
Bottenbley knows who Schuller is, but he
tried to minimize Schuller's influence by
trying to make it so that Rick Warren
"only" appeared on Schuller's
seminars every now and then. However, Rick
Warrens wife Kay said
in Christianity Today:
During his last year in seminary, he
and Kay drove west to visit Robert
Schuller's Institute for Church Growth.
"We had a very stony ride out to the
conference," she says, because such
nontraditional ministry scared her to
death. Schuller, though, won them over.
"He had a profound influence on
Rick," Kay says. "We were
captivated by his positive appeal to
nonbelievers. I never looked back."
The "profound influence" of
Robert Schuller on Rick Warren is evident
for people who know the teachings of both
men. Warren Smith has documented this in his
book Deceived on Purpose. He has exposed how
Rick Warren even quotes Robert Schuller
without mentioning him. A profound influence
indeed. Talking about
"parroting"...
But it gets worse.
As Bottenbley mentioned how Rick Warren's
marketing research came from Robert
Schuller, he said there was nothing wrong
about it. While the Bible says not to
"walk in the counsil of the
ungodly" (Psalm 1:1), Bottenbley
literally said in this context:
"Christians are too arrogant".
It was like listening to a New Age rant
against "Christian
fundamentalism". "Christians
shouldn't be so arrogant", Bottenbley
said, while refering to unchristian roots of
Rick Warren's marketing research. Was this
the same man that exposed the Toronto
Blessing, the same that is known to be a
"Bible believing" Christian?
Conspiracy theorists are known for their
emphasis on symbols and rituals as ultimate
proof of a Satanic conspiracy. Usually,
they're not brought forward as argumentation
in favor of a certain organization. But in
the case of Rick Warren, this was done.
Bottenbley spoke about the times he was
at Rick Warren's Saddleback Church. He was,
in his own words, "very
impressed". In an attempt to convince
people about the very Christian nature of
Saddleback, he pointed out to a monument of
three crosses and a ritual in the church
services where people did something with a
physical cross. A strange argument...
Talking about conspiracy theories, the
question was asked if Hybels, Warren and
Schuller are Freemasons. Bottenbley answered
that he "felt" Hybels and Warren
were not. And he didn't speak about Schuller.
He did speak about another man, though. A
man called Ken Blanchard. Ken
Blanchard is a New Ager who runs a
"non-profit ministry" called
"Lead
Like Jesus". And as he spoke on Ken
Blanchard, Bottenbley revealed that he was
more into a New Age kind of thinking then he
would ever care to admit.
Who is Ken Blanchard? Bottenbley called
him one of the "biggest names in
Christian Leadership". He denied that
Blanchard is a New Ager and said that his
staff contacted Willow Creek and Rick Warren
directly when the word came out on Ken
Blanchard. According to Bottenbley,
Blanchard is "a christian for
years".
There has been a lot of controversy
around Ken Blanchard's close connection with
Rick Warren. The Dutch media reported on the
controversy when several Christians in the
Netherlands sounded the alarm on the man.
When Bottenbley defined the critique on
Blanchard, he revealed his own new Age
inspired philosophy. According to Bottenbley,
Ken Blanchard had written a foreword in a
Buddhist book in which he says that
Christians can learn principals of Jesus'
Leadership by looking to the Buddhists. And
according to Bottenbley, Ken Blanchard was
absolutely right and don't you dare call
that New Age....
Bottenbley also mentioned how they had
been in contact with Willow Creek and Rick
Warren about the fact that Ken Blanchard was
wearing a Ying Yang sign. They had confirmed
to him that indeed Ken Blanchard did do such
a thing, but that is was just a sign of the
fact that "Brother Ken still has to
learn a lot of things". But this is the
same man that is called "one of the
biggest names in Christian Leadership"
by Orlando Bottenbley...
Orlando Bottenbley himself is considered
to be one of the biggest names in Christian
Ledership in the Netherlands, and in Europe.
His succesful Bethel church project is
widely covered in the press. Together with
Rick Warren and Ken Blanchard, he starred at
a Willow Creek "Leadership
Conference" where also Dutch Prime
minister Jan Peter Balkenende gave acte d'
presence.
There's no turning back, so it seems...
This became even more evidently as the
evening continued and congregation was given
time to ask questions. A lot of these
"questions" were expressions of
approval with Rick Warren. They were
accepted with a smile on the face of the
pastor, who didn't really answer any one the
more critical questions.
When the question came up if the Church
of Jesus Christ has to work with the United
Nations for a Global Peace which will bring
the return of Jesus Christ, Bottenbley
clearly said: "no". But when Rick
Warren's Global Peace Plan was described to
comment on the question, Bottenbley simply
re-stated Rick Warren's philosophy.
This is particulary strange, because Rick
Warren's dominionist Theology that basically
states the Christian Church has to create a
New World Order to bring about the return of
Jesus Christ is in clear contradiction with
Bottenbley's own statements concerning the
end times. Just recently, he was even
critisized in the newspapers for saying that
the end was near.
In this time, we see the Mystery of
Iniquity unfolding as the world gets ready
for the New Age. What seemed impossible ten
years ago, is now commonly accepted. An ikon
of Fundamentalist Christians in the
Netherlands embracing a writer who has
declared war on that very same
Fundamentalist or Rootical or "Bible
Believing" Christians.
We just witnessed it.
It truly seems, there is no turning back.
Bottenbley stated, "We are well on
course".
On January 30th, 2006, Step Six was
activated.
We'll keep you informed.
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