Rick Warren's Losing Poker Hand on Oprah's Lifeclass Pt 1

Alright, so those of you who hang on every word that Oprah says, hopefully that's none of you in the audience, but if you think that Oprah has anything to offer you when it comes to true biblical

Christianity, let me be the first to tell you, you are looking in the wrong place, okay?

Oprah's Christianity isn't biblical Christianity, and the people that she has on her program, she doesn't bring them on to proclaim historic biblical

Christian orthodoxy, and that includes Rick Warren. And unfortunately,

I think Rick Warren met and exceeded all of Oprah's expectations for him on this year's

First Life class. In fact, it's this week and also next week, part two will air next week.

And unfortunately, Rick Warren did not proclaim Christ and him crucified for our sins, and the

Christianity that he presented, well, I'm sorry, it was a

Christianity of his own concocting, and we're not given the authority to concoct our own

Christianity. Now, to give you an example of just how far off Warren was,

I'm going to fast forward to about two -thirds of the way through the program, okay, where a gal named

Julie from Norway calls in or Skypes in to Oprah's Life class, and this is a person who by her own admission isn't a

Christian and isn't all that sure about the God thing, okay? Rick Warren knows he's dealing with somebody who is not a believer in Jesus Christ, okay?

Somebody who has not been brought to repentance and faith in Christ for the forgiveness of their sins.

Instead, from Julie's own admission, she had a rough go of it in Roman Catholicism.

Talk about the ultimate legalistic religion. I think Roman Catholicism fits the bill there.

But listen carefully to what Rick Warren says. Does he tell her about her crucified and risen

Savior, call her to repentance and faith and trust in Christ for the forgiveness of her sins, tell her the good news of what

Christ has done? He's talking to an unbeliever. But let's see what

Rick Warren says. Here is from last night's life class, Oprah's Life class,

Julie from Norway. Here we go. Julie from Norway is on Skype, and she said she's having a come to Jesus moment.

What's your come to Jesus moment? Hi, Oprah. It's nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. I have a good life here in Norway.

But I feel like I've been missing something. And from tonight's conversation,

I think I know what it is. I think I'm missing

God in my life. And okay, so she's missing

God in her life. Okay. This is the perfect place to preach the gospel.

Somebody who wants to know more about God. This I mean, you couldn't tee it up any better.

I mean, these are rare opportunities. If you've had any opportunity to share the gospel with somebody, you don't oftentimes come with somebody with all their defensiveness down, wanting to hear what you have to say.

And she wants to hear about God. Okay. You just got a missing

God clap. Julie.

But I have another question, which is, who is

God? What is God? What does that mean? Um, I was raised a Catholic.

And so my connection to God is kind of a little shady.

And another, I mean, you thought it was, you thought it was good.

You know, when she said she's think she's missing the God thing. Now she wants to know who God is. This is talk about a rare opportunity.

All Rick Warren has to do now is to say, let me tell you about God.

Okay. There's a lot of people out there who have a lot of ideas about God. But if you want to know who

God is, you look at Jesus Christ. He is none other than God in human flesh.

And you can say something like, and I know that what you learned about Jesus in Roman Catholicism may have made you think that he's angry at you or that you, you, you just can't measure up.

But unfortunately that, that, that version of Jesus is not really the

Jesus that's revealed in scripture. Cause we learn that Jesus is the son of God in human flesh. He's God.

And he came to die for your sins and to rise again on the third day. And he's offering salvation for you for free, repent, believe the good news and be forgiven.

All of your sins can be forgiven. I mean, this would be a great place to say that. I mean, we're talking about how many millions of people would have heard the gospel if that's what

Rick Warren had said. But what did he say? Listen in. I think

I need something more spiritual, like a spiritual God. I think that's what I'm looking for. So she thinks she's looking for a spiritual

God. I don't even know what that means. And I'm sure if you were to push her on it, she wouldn't really be able to tell you exactly what that means either.

Well, there's a difference between churchianity and Christianity. There's no doubt about that. All right.

Not a bad lead off. Okay. Big difference.

And Jesus didn't come to give us a religion. He came to give us a relationship. Remember, go back to now.

This is where it gets bad. Let me back this up. Okay. Details matter. Came to give us not a religion, but a relationship.

Listen to religion. He came to give us a relationship. Remember, go back to what he said. Love God with all your heart.

Love your neighbors yourself. Okay. That's a huge problem. Didn't come to give us a religion.

He came to give us a relationship. Okay. Open up your Bible. Open to the gospel of Matthew chapter 22, verse 34.

Okay. Let me read. But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the

Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked Jesus a question to test him.

Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? And he said to him, you shall love the

Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind.

This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.

Now, when somebody who is a Christian pastor, a celebrity pastor, makes the claim that, listen,

God didn't come to give you a religion. He wants a relationship. On some level, you can talk like that.

But the relationship has to be based on something. And if it's going to be based upon the law, then you're going to continue in a bad relationship.

Okay? Because Jesus isn't here saying, love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself, as the center of Christianity.

No, he said, this is the great commandment. The great commandment.

Now go to Romans chapter 3. I want to point something out. The law is not the gospel.

The law is not good news. It's the thing that condemns you.

Romans chapter 3, I'll start at verse 9. Here's what it says. So what then? Are we Jews any better? Well, no, not at all, for we have already charged that all, both

Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written, none is righteous. No, not one.

No one understands. No one seeks for God. All have turned aside together. They have become worthless.

No one does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave. They use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips.

Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. In their mouth are ruin and misery.

In the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

For by works of the law, no human being will be justified.

Now the word, the Greek word there, dikaio, literally means to be declared righteous.

So you can say it like this, for by works of the law, no human will be declared righteous in God's sight, since through the law comes the knowledge of sin.

That's the primary use of the law. So here Rick Warren, talking to a woman who's not so sure about the

God thing, doesn't really know who God is, thinks she's looking for a spiritual God, that that's really what she needs.

Notice the consumer aspect to her search for God here, and talks about the fact that she had a rough time in Roman Catholicism.

Yeah, who wouldn't? Warren then says there's a difference between churchianity and Christianity.

Okay. And that God wants to have her, didn't, you know, Jesus didn't come to start a religion, but to have a relationship, but then quotes the law, love

God, love neighbor. Romans 3 again, verse 20, for by works of the law.

You can say for by loving God with all your heart and loving your neighbor as yourself, no human being will be declared righteous in God's sight.

Since through the law that says love God and love neighbor comes the knowledge of sin.

Verse 21, but now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law.

Although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God that is through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe, for there is no distinction for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are declared righteous or justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom

God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith.

Got it? So the good news is that Christ died for our sins and that salvation is a free gift for all of those people who do not love

God with all their heart and who do not love their neighbor as themselves. That's the gospel.

Now I made reference to this earlier today, but second Corinthians chapter five also bears this out how we as Christians have been given the ministry of reconciliation.

Okay. And the idea behind this is, is that yes, reconciliation is relationship talk.

Okay. If we're going to talk about having a relationship with God, we must first deal with the fact that each and every one of us is born dead in trespasses and sins.

And we have a bad relationship with God because we're sinners.

But the good news is that God unilaterally acted on our behalf by becoming a man, was born of the

Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried.

All of these things he did to reconcile us to himself.

So if we're going to have a good relationship with God, it has to be based upon something.

And that something is Christ shed blood on the cross that reconciles us to God.

Second Corinthians chapter five, verse 18. Here's what it says.

All of this is from God who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.

That is in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ. God is making his appeal through us. Then we implore you on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God for our sake.

He made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

You see, it's the good news of Christ and him crucified and for our sins and raised bodily from the grave on the third day.

That's the good news. The proclamation of the announcement of our reconciliation before God.

But saying to somebody who is a unbeliever, oh, well, God just wants to have a relationship with you.

So love God and love neighbor that leaves them condemned. That's not the gospel.

That's the law. And by works of the law, no one will be saved.

In other words, Rick Warren totally botched it. And the is, is that he does this chronically.

He has an unbeliever who wants to know more about God. And the only thing he can point her to is love

God and love neighbor. In other words, he's didn't preach the gospel and the reconciliation that she has in Christ.

He actually preached condemnation to her. Listen again. It's between churchianity and Christianity.

There's no doubt about that. Jesus didn't come to give us a religion.

He came to give us a relationship. Remember, go back to what he said. Love God with all your heart.

Love your neighbors yourself. I'm a Christian pastor. What do you expect me to say? I believe. I expect you to say that she needs to believe

Christ for the forgiveness of her sins. Love God and love neighbors. The law, not the gospel.

What he said, love God with all your heart. Love your neighbors yourself. I'm a Christian pastor.

What do you expect me to say? I believe Jesus is God, but here's the point you need to say.

You were made by God and you were made for God till you understand that life isn't going to make sense.

Okay. Which God? Okay. Yeah. You say Jesus is God, but the Christian message is not.

I was made by God for God. That's, that's not the gospel. The gospel is that Christ died for our sins because you were created.

It's why we have to go to God to find our purpose because he's the creator. So he's preaching a gospel of purpose, not the gospel of the good news that Christ died for our sins.

Notice that's completely missing from his good news to this unbeliever from Norway.

Thank you. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. We're going to take a break. The final. Yeah. It's like, okay, thank you for nothing.

I mean, that wasn't the gospel. Did that help her? Like not at all.

And unfortunately this isn't an isolated problem.

The whole, the whole thing was just fraught with bad theology and doctrine practically from the word go.

So I'm going to back up the audio. We're going to listen to a little bit more of this today and we'll chop this up into a few segments and do it over the course of the week.

But here's the, going back to the beginning of the program. Um, you know, Rick Warren's teaching about, about winning at the hand that you're dealt in life.

Yeah. Here's the opening from Oprah's program where he discusses this. Here we go.

They have a seat.

Happy new year. Does someone like you, this is what I want to know. Does somebody like you make new year's resolutions?

No, I don't make new year's resolutions. The reason why is because resolutions don't last. And the reason why they don't last is because they only affect one of five areas.

And if you're going to change, you've got to work on all five areas at once for lasting change. You have to change what

I call your autopilot. Ooh, good. Okay. I'm going to point something out. Who's Rick Warren's audience.

He's not in church. His audiences, Oprah's life class.

Do you think Rick Warren is not aware that the primary people whom he's talking with are not

Christian believers, but really kind of Oprah -fied spiritual type folks that are not really

Christians. He's got to understand that his audience needs to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And he's there to tell them how to change the autopilot in their life. A lot of good that's going to do them because even if you change the autopilot in someone's life and they overcome bad habits, they're still going to hell unless they're brought to repentant faith and trust in Christ for the forgiveness of their sins.

We continue. Okay. Now, if you have a boat and it's headed north on a lake and the autopilot says go north and you want to force it to go south, you got two ways to change it.

One is to take the wheel and physically by willpower force it to go south. The whole time you're under stress because everything naturally wants to go north.

And eventually you get tired of the stress and you let go. You start smoking again. You go back to your old relationships and all this kind of thing.

The second way is to change the autopilot. Change the autopilot. And that's what we want to talk about today.

About changing our autopilot. Absolutely. Okay. Well, quick question. Where does

Jesus teach this? Where does the Bible teach this clearly? Now, I understand an autopilot, that's a modern day invention.

So Jesus would never use the term autopilot, but where does the Bible say to change these internal habits?

Where is it laid out in scripture? Because if it's laid out in scripture, then the church has been teaching it all along, right?

We continue. A few months ago, Pastor Rick gave a sermon about poker. Everybody says it's one of your best ones ever.

I haven't heard all of them, but that one was pretty darn good. Let's say, okay. People are saying it's one of your best yet.

Tell us what it's about. Well, a guy Oprah told me, he said, you know, life is like a game of poker.

You have to play the hand you're dealt. Yes. So I started thinking about that. I thought, so what's the hand?

What are the cards? So somebody told you life is like a game of poker.

You have to deal the hand, play the hand you're dealt. What if, you know, Forrest Gump came up to you and said, life is like a box of chocolates.

You never know what you're going to get. The point being is neither that guy nor Forrest Gump are speaking what the

Bible exactly says. That's just kind of common everyday folk wisdom.

You know what I'm saying? But biblical wisdom is something different than everyday folk wisdom. Cards. And as I thought about it,

I thought the cards that were dealt are the things we don't have control over. Yeah. I didn't choose when I was born, where I was born.

I didn't choose my parents, my gender, my race, my natural abilities, my natural weaknesses, my, my, uh, disabilities, my abilities, these things like this.

But a wise player can even play what seems to be a weak hand and win the game.

Really? And they normally in poker, you do that by bluffing. So you want me to figure out how to bluff my way through life?

See that doesn't even see even the metaphor he's using when you start pushing on it. Well, it's like a house of cards.

It comes down pun intended and can win the game. And so there are ways to take what you were given and actually make the most of it.

And that's what we're talking about. That's what we're talking about today. You know, I love this quote from a spiritual teacher, Carolyn mace.

She was on a Super Soul Sunday recently. And she said, people suffer when they pursue a spiritual teacher, who?

Yeah, I don't I don't think she's a Christian life or chase a dream that doesn't belong to them.

Yeah. And one of my favorite quotes from from Joseph Campbell is that the privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.

And I think so many people wish for another hand. Yeah. You know, you get that hand and then you wish

I wish I had his hand. I wish I had their hand. So tonight we're talking about the hand you were dealt.

Every hand has its limitations. And when you stand before God one day, he's not going to say, why weren't you more like your sister?

Even though you spend your life thinking, why aren't I? Why weren't you more like Angelina Jolie or anybody else?

Yeah. God's going to say, wait a minute. I made you to be you. Yes. If you don't be who you who's going to be you? Right.

You're not one in a million. You're one in six billion. OK, now I'm going to stop here for a second. Non -Christian audience.

And he's he makes a reference to Judgment Day. OK, when you get to heaven,

God's not going to say, why weren't you more like your sister? OK. Non -Christian audience, they stand under the wrath of God currently.

Right. In fact, let me read another biblical passage just so that we just understand just how precarious their particular situation is.

The Gospel of John, chapter three, verse 36. Listen to this. Whoever believes in the

Son has eternal life. Whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

OK, so everybody there in the audience that isn't a

Christian. OK, their state before God right now because they do not believe in the forgiveness of their sins.

They are currently under the wrath of God. And when they stand before Jesus Christ, Rick Warren's correct when he says that God isn't going to say to them, why weren't you more like your sister or your brother?

It's not what he's going to say at all. He's going to say, depart from me. I never knew you into the lake of fire, prepared for the devil and all of his angels.

Why? Because they don't believe in Christ for the forgiveness of their sins. They're not trusting him.

That's their problem. OK, all of these symptoms that he's describing that are coming up in people's lives, you know, these five cards, these five poker cards that he's talking about, and he'll lay them out.

They're like chemistry and circumstances and things like that. All of these bad cards that were dealt in life are challenging cards.

The reason why they're difficult and bad is because each and every one of us comes into this world dead and trespasses and sins.

And it's filled. We live in a world filled with seven billion other sinners.

And so there is just a proliferation of bad results that come about as a result of our sin.

Think of it this way, is that right now in the United States, there is a flu epidemic.

OK, and literally on Christmas Day, you know, that was the day I full blown came out with this flu, you know, so I've already suffered through it.

And thankfully, I'm done. So I don't have to be suffering with all the other people who are currently suffering with this flu. And boy, it was really just loads of juicy fun.

But the point is, this is that when you have a flu or you have a cold, you have symptoms.

OK, you can have aches, you can have fever, you can have nausea. If you have a cold and you have a stuffy nose, you have a cough and it can be, you know, the kind of cough that's really goopy and gross.

And then, you know, you know what I'm talking about. You suffer through all these things. OK. And one of the reasons why you have to ride it out is because you're suffering from a virus.

OK, the virus is producing the symptoms. So when you take a nasal decongestant, when you take when you blow your nose, you get your

Vicks vapor rub out, you go ahead and get the humidifier rolling, you know, and all these things, all of the things that we can purchase from your local pharmacy, they treat the symptoms, but they don't and can't treat the cause.

The root cause is that virus. OK, so here's what we got right now on Oprah's life class.

Oprah thinks that she's helping her audience by giving them strategies to alleviate the symptoms of sin.

And Rick Warren is there as her guest, acting supposedly as a representative of biblical

Christianity, offering advice on how to help people alleviate the negative consequences and symptoms of sin.

Problem. Christianity does far more than address the symptoms.

It gets down to the root cause. And the solution that it offers is not tips and strategies and advice on how to break habits or to how to change your internal autopilot so that you can have better outcomes in your life.

No, that's not what Christianity teaches. Christianity addresses the root of the problem by driving you to your knees, despairing in your own righteousness and teaching you that the solution is your crucified and risen savior.

And you need to repent of your wickedness and trust in him for the forgiveness of your sins.

Then deny yourself, take up your cross daily and follow him. And crosses are implements of suffering.

This life is going to be tough. All the way through. But Christ is going to bring you into his heavenly kingdom on the day you die or on the day in which he returns in glory to judge the living and the dead.

You see what I'm saying? There's a big difference here. Christianity deals with the root problem and that is your sinfulness.

This is trying to alleviate sinfulness by addressing symptoms and trying to manage the symptoms of sin.

But this isn't Christianity. This is something different. God doesn't make clones.

He doesn't make copies. And the Bible says we're fearfully and wonderfully made. That means we're custom designed, custom design, custom design.

And we're going to talk about these five features that are in your custom design. Well, first of all, let's talk about that little book you wrote,

The Purpose Driven Life that is now sold. So did you all hear what

I said in the introduction? Other than the Bible, no other book in hardcover has sold more books than any other book on the planet.

Now, I was thinking if you're on Mars and you're watching, maybe you know of a book that sold more. But if you're on the planet

Earth, how did that happen? It beats me. I'm not even an author.

You know, I'm a pastor. Nobody's more surprised than I am that I got to write that book.

So I don't really think it's about the author. I think it was about the subject. Yes. It's a fundamental issue.

There is no deeper question is what am I here for? What am I here for? What is my purpose? Why am

I here? So you're reissuing it. It's the 10th anniversary. The Purpose Driven Life is being reissued.

What? And this is not good news. The Purpose Driven Life, the book, completely mangles and twists

God's Word, does not rightly handle it at all. If you don't believe me, just work through the first two chapters.

And anytime Rick Warren is referencing the Bible or says God says, pay attention to the footnote, go look in the back of the book, find the verse that he's quoting, put it back in context from a good translation.

For instance, use only one translation like the ESV, work your way through the verses and compare in context what those passages really say from a good translation to what he says they say.

And you'll see the problem immediately. He turns the Bible into a pretzel.

This is not good. And that's not the behavior of somebody who is rightly teaching

God's Word. That's the behavior that's indicative of somebody who is a false teacher and a wolf in sheep's clothing.

We continue. On earth, am I here for? Yeah. You know why? Because I got to thinking, a girl who was 10 years old or 12 years old when this book came out.

Yeah. When the Purpose Driven Life came out. Yeah. She's now 22. So she needs to know her purpose. Right. And I've learned a lot since then.

So I actually wrote a few more chapters and I've added in some video and actually an audio message for each chapter.

So there's a lot more material in it now. Well, tonight we're going to talk about not just what on earth are you here for, but learning to live with and maximize the hand you're dealt with.

We're going to play some poker. I never play. Maximize the hand you're dealt with.

That's not even Christian sanctification. This is something completely different than Christianity.

Never played any cards up with Pastor Rick. He says, it's all about winning the hand you're dealt. We're going to deal out the cards when we come back.

We'll write right back to play poker. Pastor Rick. All right. Let me fast forward. We'll listen to the opening.

We'll listen to like card number one today. And then on future episodes of Fighting for the

Faith, we'll get to the other ones. So welcome back to Life Class from Houston at the

Hobby Center. It's a new year. The man who the Time Magazine calls one of America's most powerful religious leaders,

Pastor Rick Warren is here. The new edition of his bestseller, The Purpose Driven Life, which is sold more hard copies than any other book other than the

Bible is out now. And what a great title, The Purpose Driven Life. What on earth am

I here for? Wow. Tonight's Life Class with Pastor Rick is all about winning the hand you're dealt in life.

So we're going to play a little poker with Pastor Rick. You say five cards that can make up our identity.

So what's first? Well, the first card is your chemistry. I call it your chemistry. And your chemistry involves...

Notice what he said. The first card is your chemistry. I call it your chemistry. Now, keep this in mind.

This teaching on Oprah's Life Class is directly from a sermon that Rick preached at Saddleback.

I happen to have the sermon. So this is based upon a sermon that he preached.

So the first card that life is going to deal you is your chemistry. He says that's what he calls it.

My question is, what does the Bible call it? Answer, the

Bible doesn't have this as a category. This is Rick Warren basically spinning his own theology, which is not what a pastor is supposed to do.

Let me back it up just a little bit. We continue. Our identity. So what's first? Well, the first card is your chemistry.

I call it your chemistry. And your chemistry involves your DNA, your hormones, your biology, your health, your strengths.

It's your body because everything you're going to do in life, you're going to do through your body. And if your body's in pain, you've got to deal with that first.

Shakespeare said, it's hard to be a philosopher with a toothache. So you've got to start with my own physical body.

And if you've got allergies, that affects you. If you've got imbalances, that affects you.

Our bodies, for good or for bad, affect our identity. So you've got to start with that card.

Okay. So let's say you're Delta card, as is Portia in the audience. Portia, where are you?

Okay. Now here comes a lady from the audience who's going to ask Pastor Rick about the chemistry card, which has to deal with, you know, dealing with your body that you've been given.

Okay. Let's talk about the card you were dealt physically, your chemistry. Yes. Well, as I was, since I've been younger,

I've always been taunted about my skin tone and the brown spots on my face, which has made me very insecure.

As an adult, I discovered makeup. I never let my family or friends or anyone

I'm dating see me without makeup. Okay. Let me be blunt. We're dealing with a gal who has a cosmetic condition.

Okay. We're dealing with a surface issue. So to be here without it right now is a huge step, but I don't wear makeup.

I'm sorry. I don't go without wearing makeup because I feel really insecure and hideous without it.

And I just want to know how can I... So you were born with these brown spots? Yes. Well, I got them when I was like six years old.

Okay. Okay. And you think that because of that, nobody's ever going to love you. Correct. I don't think

I will ever find a guy who will love me the way I am without makeup. Okay. And I just want to know how can

I learn to love myself and why haven't God blessed me with anyone to make me feel beautiful.

And then back the question up because it's important and it's serious. Listen again. The way

I am without makeup. Okay. And I just want to know how can I learn to love myself and why haven't

God blessed me with anyone to make me feel beautiful. Okay. So she wants to love herself and wants to know why

God hasn't given her somebody to make her feel beautiful. Man, what do you do with something like this?

As a Christian pastor, what would you say? What is a past Christian pastor supposed to be saying in a situation like this?

We have a gal who's focused on herself, wants to learn how to love herself more, and wants to know why

God hasn't given her somebody so that she can love herself. Well, there's the problem right there, isn't it?

Who is she focused on? Herself. Sin, the condition of sin, the sinful nature that we all must deal with, that we've inherited from Adam and Eve, it has been described as a curving in on oneself.

The Latin for that is the incurvatus se. Well, she's showing this in spades.

No, I don't mean her any disrespect, but this is her problem. She is bent in on, curved in on herself.

What she needs to do is repent and trust in Christ for the forgiveness of her sins.

For God has sent her somebody. He has sent her a savior, the virgin born son of God.

But man, this is not good. This is a good example of a chemistry issue,

Oprah. The fact is everybody's got flaws. Nobody's perfect.

But the definition of flaw is 100 % subjective. Because what we might think is a flaw in our culture is a beauty mark in somebody else's.

And so there's an African country where the fatter you are, the more, the more husbands you can get.

I remember that Dean when they did that show and I went, that's what

I've been missing. A country where, okay. You know, I bought a pair of jeans the other day and I got it home and it was distressed jeans.

There was a little tag on it. It said, these jeans are intentionally flawed to make them unique.

Wow. You need to write that one down. We are all intentionally flawed to make us unique.

Okay. I can't think of a more blasphemous thing for a pastor to say.

And here's the reason why the reason why we're flawed all, all of us is not because God has made us unique.

The reason why we're flawed is because we're dead in trespasses and sins. All of this is a condition of our sin.

These are the consequences of our collective rebellion against God. It causes these types of things to happen and worse.

Okay. And worse. There's far worse things that can happen to a person than them having an unsightly skin condition.

I mean, there are children who are born with congenital defects with serious illnesses.

You know, I would say autism, or you could say down syndrome, or, you know, somebody who has named the degenerative disease or childhood cancer.

I mean, this is horrible.

What this woman is describing is a consequence of her sin. And I'll be blunt.

It's a pretty mild one compared to a lot of the horrible ones that we that other people experience.

And she wants to love herself more, which actually shows her problem. And Rick's consolation to her is that, oh, we're all born flawed, because that's what makes us unique.

No, we're all born dead in trespasses and sins. And this is not some cute way in which

God says, oh, you're just unique. This uniqueness, these flaws that we have, demonstrate that there's something terribly wrong in the world.

And why that's why we need a crucified and risen Savior. But that's not what Rick is interested in preaching and teaching.

He's got his own agenda for Oprah's life class. Listen, listen again. You need to write that one down.

We are all intentionally flawed to make us unique.

And there isn't a single passage in scripture that says that. Now, Portia's problem is actually a deeper problem.

Right. It's her sin. And the issue here is it is the myth that being beautiful will make me happy.

I live in Southern California. There are a lot of pretty people there who are miserable. Yeah, they are, because plastic surgery can't reverse the consequences of sin.

So it is not an automatic beauty equals happiness.

Happiness is a choice. So you got to realize that sometimes your own self -rejection is turning people away.

That everybody went. Yes, it's it's it's it's her perception of what.

Absolutely. She's flat out gorgeous. But the point is, is that it becomes a self -fulfilling prophecy.

There's a verse in the Bible where Job says that which I feared most has befallen me. And you are aware of what happened to Job, right?

He like lost everything. That Job had some trouble. He did.

Yeah. I'd say this to Portia, though. You don't want friends who only love you for your looks.

Now, as true as that is, that's just common sense.

That's everyday folk wisdom. But the wisdom of God is much more powerful than this, and she's not being given that.

And and you don't and you don't want a husband who only loves you for your looks.

Again, true, but this is common sense, not biblical revelation.

Look, I'll tell you this. Our looks aren't going to stay now. Mine do, but I don't know about yours.

And so it's all in your mind. But that's a chemistry issue. Yes, that causes us to miss out on our purpose.

And so for some people, it could be. So your chemistry issue causes you to miss out on your purpose.

But your sin issue will cause you to spend eternity in hell.

You know, being born with brown spots for some people, it's you're born short or you're born too tall or you're you're you're prone to be heavier.

You're right. Yes. Right. Right. And you're saying do what with that? I'm saying you need to reframe everything you think is a flaw in your life as a mark of uniqueness and say, you know what?

Nobody else has got this. Yeah. And what are you going to say to her when she's told that she's going to hell by Christ and you didn't preach the gospel to her?

I'm a one of a kind. I'm a prescription baby. I was custom made. Notice narcissism here.

And so it's all in reframing that you say that which I think everybody doesn't like.

You know what? I'm going to like it. And therefore, if you don't like it, what's your problem? And because you are given that, whether it's brown spots or whatever you choose your whatever you see as your flaw, it means it doesn't it doesn't everything mean something for you.

Nothing is happening out of order. Of course, it's all God has designed it all and intentionally allows not just the strengths, but also the weaknesses in our lives.

One thing forces us to depend on him. Yeah. And we're more humble. So the whole sin problem,

I think that was God's intention all along to help you to do.

Right. Right. We're a lot more humble. So you are as happy as you choose to be as happy as you choose to be.

So I would hope you would choose differently, particularly. I want to check with you at the end of this show to see how you feel.

OK, because we know what's coming. Right. So card one is specifically you.

OK, card one is chemistry or your DNA. What's what's card number two? OK, we'll save card number two for tomorrow.

Yeah, that's not Christianity. And Rick Warren didn't help these people.

All he gave them was common sense, everyday folk advice under the cloak of being a pastor, as if somehow he can spiritualize it and Christianize it.

But you can't. This didn't help anybody.

And he didn't preach Christ in his saving office to an audience of people who are dying and going to hell.

And when given the opportunity straight up, Julie from Norway, he had no good news to give her.

All he gave her was love God and love your neighbor. That's the law. That's the very thing, the very standard that will condemn her on the last day.

What she needs to hear is that Christ has kept the law perfectly for her and salvation is a gift won for her by Christ on the cross.

Nobody heard that from Pastor Warren. In fact, it wasn't even hinted at.

That's not a problem. That's a major problem. All right, we're up on our second break.

If you'd like to email me regarding anything you've heard on this edition or any previous editions of Fighting for the Faith, you could do so. My email address is talkbackatfightingforthefaith .com

or you can subscribe on Facebook. It's facebook .com forward slash pirate Christian. Follow me on Twitter. My name there at pirate

Christian, we get back. We're playing an interview that I recorded earlier today with Dr. James Duncan regarding his lawsuit for criminal harassment against him by people, pastors at new spring church.

Don't want to miss it. We'll be right back. Sissy -oprified religiosity won't save you.

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