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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.
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