Rick Warren builds bridge to Islam

Al Dager of Media Spotlight magazine looks at the issue of compromised faith as 'America's Pastor' Rick Warren works towards syncretism with Islam.

by Al Dager
Media Spotlight; Spring 2012

Rick Warren with fellow PEACE activist Tony Blair

As part of his P. E. A. C. E. Plan, Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, is partnering with Southern California mosques in hopes of building bridges of understanding between Christians and Muslims.

The outreach, informally called "King's Way," is working to propose a set of theological principles acknowledging that the two religions worship the same god. Warren kicked off his "King's Way" program in December at a dinner hosted by Saddleback Church attended by the congregation and some 300 Muslims.

Abraham Meulenberg, Saddleback's pastor in charge of interfaith outreach, joined with Muslim imam Jihad Turk, director of religious affairs at a mosque in Los Angeles, in presenting King's Way as "a path to end the 1,400 years of misunderstanding between Muslims and Christians."

The men co-authored a document that outlines points of agreement between Islam and Christianity, and which claims that the two religions share two central commandments: "love of God" and "love of neighbour." Quoting side-by-side verses from the Bible and Koran to illustrate its claims, the document also proposes three goals which Christians and Muslims can work on jointly: making friends with one another; building peace; working on shared social service projects.

Both sides have agreed not to evangelize each other. Turk stated that they would "witness to each other but it would be out of 'love thy neighbour, not focused on conversion."

Late last year, Warren issued a statement in which he strongly denied that he promotes the merging of Christianity and Islam, which has come to be known as "Chrislam." Rather, he wants to keep the two faiths separate, but unified in purpose and, where possible, theology. Warren wants Christians to stop thinking of Muslims as violent, and as prospects for conversion to Christ He bases his non-conversion policy on his assumption that "God likes variety," and that Christians must treat everyone with love and respect.

COMMENTARY

How does one address this without appearing "unloving" for disagreeing strongly with Warren's philosophy of what he terms "love"? By all means we must love all men, including our enemies. And sadly, many Christians have been antagonistic toward those of other religions. But then all religions have been (and continue to be) antagonistic toward those who do not adhere to them.

Love of one's neighbour does not mean refraining from witnessing to him. It means being there to help him in time of "America's Pastor" Rick Warren His only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ. How can a true believer in Jesus say he loves his neighbour and not desire to see him saved? That is a lie of the Devil. And that lie is permeating neo-evangelicalism through just such efforts to find common ground between Christianity and other religions.

Granted, Christianity is not true biblical faith; it has many faces, most of which are steeped in unbiblical error in both doctrine and practice. But the word "Christianity" connotes to the world faith in Jesus Christ as the only way to the Father YHWH. Warren may deny that he is promoting "Chrislam," but when he joins in worship with Muslims as he has done to celebrate their religious feasts, and when he says we worship the same god as do the Muslims, he is indeed engaging in Chrislam. Chrislam is based on the idea that Muslims and Christians worship the same god, which is exactly what Warren is saying.

By claiming that Islam and Christianity worship the same god, Warren and his cohorts are denying the truth they mouth: that Jesus is the only-begotten Son of God. Warren's claim, "My life and ministry are built on the truth that Jesus is the only way, and our inerrant Bible is our only true authority," rings hollow.

A major tenet of Islam is that "god has no son." Or, more specifically, "Allah has no son." In this, Muslims are correct. Allah (their god) has no son because Allah does not exist. He is a re-creation by Mohammed of the ancient pagan Arab moon god named "Allah."
Let's say it again and again, as many times as we have to in order to make a distinction between what we believe and what false Christians believe: Allah is not YHWH! I'll say it again: Allah is not YHWH!

Another argument posited by Muslims in their attempts to deceive Christians is that "Allah" is merely the Arabic word for "God." But if that's true, why is their testimony stated, "There is no god but Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet"? That's tantamount to saying, "There is no god but god." Clearly, "Allah" is the Arab god's name.

The lie that the god of Islam is the same God of Christianity, perpetrated by quisling Christians who are more interested in living in peace than they are in dying for God's truth, is wreaking havoc in the churches. And sad to say, it is gaining more and more adherents as time passes.

At the same time Christians are disarming themselves of God's truth, Islam in the majority is carrying out the dictates of Mohammed to rule the world in the name of Allah. Well, if Allah and YHWH are the same, then Rick Warren and those who agree with him will certainly welcome that! Why not shed themselves of all pretences and join in worshipping their "same god" as they work toward the same goal? Or perhaps they are, at least naively if not purposely-driven.

Media Spotlight is a ministry of Al and Jean Dager o the body of Christ, bringing understanding of the ways in which the world shapes our thinking and lifestyles through the influence of the mass communications media. It is based in Redmond, Washington USA.
Christians Together has published a previous piece from Media Spotlight on Dominion Theology entitled: 'Will the Church be all-conquering'.

See also: Blair and Warren: a deadly duo for peace

Al Dager, 21/04/2012