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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.
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