Rick Warren Calls on Followers To Be Dedicated as Followers of Lenin and Mao
Bruce Wilson printable version print page     Bookmark and Share
Sat Dec 05, 2009 at 12:56:42 PM EST
[note: for more recent news on Rick Warren, see Rick Warren's Dissertation Advisor Leads Network Promoting Uganda Anti-Gay Bill]

Video, below contains audio recording, photos, and transcript from Rick Warren's April 17, 2005 speech at California's Anaheim Angels Stadium, during 25th anniversary to celebrate the founding of Warren's  Saddleback Church.





below: partial transcript from Rick Warren's April 17, 2005 speech at California's Anaheim Angels Stadium, during 25th anniversary to celebration the founding of Warren's  Saddleback Church



Partial transcript of Rick Warren April 17, 2005 Anaheim sports stadium speech

[ ~minute 33:00 ]

"God is going to use you to change the world.

"We have a kingdom that nothing can destroy... it's indestructible, it's unshakable, going to last forever, it's going to cover the planet.

So the kingdom is multinational, it's powerful, it's eternal and, number four (this is the best news), it's inevitable because God is in control of history. History is his story.

And the Bible says this in Matthew 24 : 'The Good news about God's kingdom will be preached into all the world, in every nation, and then the end's going to come. '

And you can go argue about prophecy all you want but Jesus Christ is not going to conclude history until everybody he's wanted to hear the world has had a chance to hear the word. But one day God's going to bring everything to a culmination.

For the past 18 months we have been on a stealth, secret mission - project - around the world. We've been sending members out, actually over 4500 members somewhere overseas, over the period of time, the last few years, going out to do what we're gonna call the P.E.A.C.E. Plan.

You've been hearing little snippets about it, today we're going to unveil it publicly. But the first thing before I even talk about it in a minute is you need to understand that at the heart of the P.E.A.C.E. Plan is this theme - The Kingdom of God.

Saddleback and our Purpose Driven Network has now trained over 400,000 pastors in over 162 countries."

[ Minute ~43:00 ]

"What is the vision for the next 25 years ? I'll tell you what it is.

It is the global expansion of the kingdom of God.

It is the total mobilization of his church.

And the third part is the goal of a radical devotion of every believer.

Now, I choose that word 'radical' intentionally, because only radicals change the world.

Everything great done in this world is done by passionate people.

Moderate people get moderately nothing done. And moderation will never slay the global giants. . ."

[ minute 48:45 ]

"In 1939, in a stadium much like this, in Munich Germany, they packed it out with young men and women in brown shirts, for a fanatical man standing behind a podium named Adolf Hitler, the personification of evil.

And in that stadium, those in brown shirts formed with their bodies a sign that said, in the whole stadium, "Hitler, we are yours."

And they nearly took the world.

Lenin once said, "give me 100 committed, totally committed men and I'll change the world." And, he nearly did.

A few years ago, they took the sayings of Chairman Mao, in China, put them in a little red book, and a group of young people committed them to memory and put it in their minds and they took that nation, the largest nation in the world by storm because they committed to memory the sayings of the Chairman Mao.

When I hear those kinds of stories, I think 'what would happen if American Christians, if world Christians, if just the Christians in this stadium, followers of Christ, would say 'Jesus, we are yours' ?

What kind of spiritual awakening would we have ? "

[ minute 51:50 ]

"Jesus said, 'I want you to do this publicly.' So what I want you to do is take the card, and in just a minute, and if you say 'Rick, I am willing to serve God's purposes in my generation.'

I want you to open up to the sign that says 'Whatever it takes.'

Whatever it takes.

And I want you to just say, 'This is my commitment, before God and in front of everybody else. I'm in.' "

And I would invite you to just stand quietly and hold up 'Whatever it takes'. . .

I'm looking at a stadium full of people who are saying 'whatever it takes'.

Whatever it takes, God.  Time, talent, energy, money, effort, vision... God, whatever it takes.

Whatever it takes, that's what I'm going to do.

And I believe that today we are making history. We're making history that's going to start a movement that will bring a new Reformation in the church of God and a new spiritual awakening in our world. And, our world needs it.

And today, as you say 'whatever it takes,' you're saying publicly, "I'm in, God. I'm in...

...I'm in.' "




Display:
Doug Coe.

Of course, advocates of anti-democratic zealotry might look to the same sources, to shock the audience, without agreeing with the agendas of a Hitler or a Mao. Nevertheless, interesting.

by Frederick Clarkson on Sun Dec 06, 2009 at 04:31:55 PM EST

Last year, video footage of Warren telling the very same anecdote, but in a different speech, was posted on Warren's P.E.A.C.E. Plan website. It's since been taken down but in the footage, Warren isn't trying to whip up a stadium crowd. It's shot on a studio set, and Warren is dressed in casual slacks and a button down shirt, and he's sitting on a stool. It's rather low key. I saved the footage and posted it on Youtube here

by Bruce Wilson on Mon Dec 07, 2009 at 02:21:21 PM EST
Parent


I really don't think you can hang Warren for this, in any way. Hang him for his loathsome role in Ugandan politics, by all means, but he is here making a very simple point that dedicated people can accomplish quite evil deeds, but that doesn't mean Christians should not be equally dedicated.

Nothing wrong with that, really. Quite likely to be misused by the media, perhaps, but it is in no way insidious.

by DanielBatt on Tue Dec 08, 2009 at 01:54:37 AM EST

 ...headed violent political movements which killed millions of people.

Why do you think Rick Warren suggested Christians should be as dedicated to Jesus as the followers of those three were to their respective leaders ?

Why not suggest Christians should be as dedicated as the nonviolent followers of Martin Luther King Jr., André Trocmé, or Gandhi ? And, there are plenty of good historic Christian role models from centuries past to choose from. I'm partial to St. Francis of Assisi.

Holding up violent role models makes perfect sense if one lacks moral scruples and wants to achieve political power.

"They nearly took the world," Rick Warren told the thousands at California's Anaheim Angels Stadium on April 17, 2005.

Warren failed to mention that "they" (Hitler's followers) slaughtered the innocent and worshiped their Fuhrer like a God.

Your defense of Warren's words here appalls me.

by Bruce Wilson on Tue Dec 08, 2009 at 01:24:39 PM EST
Parent



I didn't think I was actually defending Warren, so I am sorry if you read it that way.

By all means be "appalled", if you really are, and are not just resorting to high dudgeon.

I said quite clearly these people did evil deeds. Why do you feel the need to re-acqaint me with the facts? As if anyone forgot Mao's was a mass murderer. As if anyone is saying, 'Let's not forget Hitler's good points.'

I am no fan of Warren's, for dozens of reasons. And I agree that St Francis is a better role model than Stalin, and so, I guess, would the meddlesome Rick Warren.

If Warren was saying, 'Let's take over the world for Jesus like the communists tried to do for the world's workers', then you may have a point that Warren is really a closet theocrat. In which case, I would apologise.

Dedication is not an ethical good. But dedication to ethical goods is. That was my point, which you seem to have missed amid your apparent outrage.

by DanielBatt on Wed Dec 09, 2009 at 02:03:06 AM EST

Warren is no good, and up to no good.

The NAR seems to really have an appreciation for EVIL- as in Hitler and the rest of that ilk.  Warren is following their lead.

We can also easily argue that their goals are the same as Hitler and the others- world domination and exploitation.


by ArchaeoBob on Wed Dec 09, 2009 at 11:33:27 PM EST
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