Rick Warren's Capitulation to Rome

Greetings from Irpin, Ukraine, where it is cold and snowy right now. I am here about ready to teach a class on the Trinity for a week, and then the week after that going to Berlin to teach on justification.

And right before I left to come over here to have this wonderful opportunity of teaching, I was directed to a Catholic, a Roman Catholic video featuring Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church, talking about, well, talking about what separates us and what we have in common in regards to Roman Catholicism.

The Problem of Rick Warren’s Vatican Video

Now, many people may be aware of the fact that Rick Warren went to the Vatican, to Rome, to speak at a conference on the subject of the family, marriage, et cetera, et cetera. And in that presentation that he made, where he said many truthful things, many true things, he also made reference to the Holy Father.

Yes, he referred to the Pope as the Holy Father, a term that is specifically used by Jesus only of God the Father. It is one of the three titles that the papacy accepts in regards to the Pope that are Trinitarian names, a Holy Father being the Father himself.

Every Roman Catholic priest calls himself an alter Christus. In his ordination, he is called another Christ. And vicar of Christ, of course, is the Holy Spirit of God. And so it's a blasphemous institution, no matter how nice the guy in the office might be.

And it is a complete betrayal of the Reformation to quote the, quote, Holy Father, as if he is, in fact, the titular head of the entire Christian body. Now, Rick Warren may be very ignorant of Roman Catholic theology and dogma.

And I hope, in fact, that he is, because if he knows much about the actual dogmatic teachings of the church, then what he is saying and what he's doing is just nigh unto unforgivable. But in this video, which we're gonna look at a couple portions of, I'm just absolutely shocked at the things that Rick Warren is willing to say.

Clearly, I'm guessing, anyways, that this was shot during his time in Rome, and it is being used as a promotional video by a Catholic organization, and for good reason when you think about it. So let's take a look at what is said in the first part of this video, and then we'll, well, I'll probably stop and start it, and we'll comment on it very, very briefly.

Common Ground Without Defining the Gospel

We have far more in common than what divides us. When you talk about Pentecostals, Charismatics, Evangelicals, Fundamentalists, Catholics, Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians,.

And on and on and on,.

Well, they would all say, we believe in the Trinity, we believe in the Bible, we believe in the resurrection, we believe salvation is through Jesus Christ. These are the big issues.

All right, let's stop it right there. These are the big issues. Now, you notice what wasn't said. We believe in salvation through Jesus Christ. What does that mean? There is a reason why, at the Reformation, the solas were promoted, and there is a reason why they were promoted in the Bible as well, in regards to the Judaizers in Galatia.

It is Christ alone. It is by the grace of God alone. It is by faith alone. Those solas have a reason to say, this is mere Christianity. This is the mere Christianity movement come to fruition from a pragmatic Southern Baptist.

These are the big issues. Yes, they're big issues, but why we believe these issues is vitally important. Why does a Roman Catholic believe in the Trinity? Because the church tells him so. Why do I believe in the Trinity?

Because God's revealed to be true in his word. Why do I believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ? Scriptural authority. Why does the Roman Catholic believe in it? Church authority.

What those things mean, what the Trinity means, what the cross means, what the resurrection means, is determined in Roman Catholicism by the teachings of the church, not by the exegesis of the text of Scripture.

And so when you say these are the big issues, and then you soft-sell the gospel, you move the gospel aside and refuse to say in Jesus Christ alone, because it is self-evident that in Roman Catholicism, it is not Jesus Christ alone.

The very thing he's gonna bring up next will be Mary and the saints. Again, we can only hope that Rick Warren is utterly ignorant of the Roman Catholic dogmas concerning Mary and the saints. You can view the debates that we've done on these issues with Roman Catholic apologists, including on the subject of Mary with Jerry Matitix, Robert Syngenis, and the subject of veneration of saints and angels with Patrick Madrid and others.

But especially when you say, well, we all believe, for example, we believe in the Bible. He just mentioned that. Believe it to be what? What is the authority that the Roman Catholic accepts the Bible to be the word of God?

And how does the word of God relate to the church and the authority of the church and so on? Completely different statements. And to say we believe that we're saved by Christ without saying Christ alone is just simply to betray the Reformation and say it was a complete and total mistake.

It was a complete and total mistake. We never should have gone there. Or he says, oh, well, there are real differences. But to say we believe the same things on these quote-unquote central issues, the big issues, this is the mere Christianity movement run amok.

And people say, well, what do you got against mere Christianity? The mere Christianity movement is the idea that Christianity can be boiled down to a bare Trinitarianism, a bare supernaturalism and remain Christianity.

That's not the teaching of the New Testament. And in fact, the strongest language of the New Testament is not for those who taught aberrant things about side issues. It's for those who taught a different Jesus and a different gospel.

That's where the strongest language is found. And while Rome may have an orthodox view of Jesus, the reasons why they would have that orthodox view are something we could discuss, but Rome's gospel is so far beyond anything the Judaizers ever dreamed of that to speak as Rick Warren is speaking is to rebuke the apostle Paul's epistle to the Galatians.

Paul never should have said the things that he said. He never should have anathematized those people. They only added one little thing to the gospel and Rome has added dozens. But evidently, Paul should not have anathematized them, at least from the way that Rick Warren is speaking now.

And yet he did. And there is a reason for that. So to say, well, we have much more in common than what separates us. When what separates us defines the very essence of the church, which is the gospel itself, then what's all the agreement when we have such a fundamental disagreement on that which is the very essence and defining factor of our faith?

Again, this kind of ecumenical smushiness is a fundamental denial of the gospel and a fundamental denial of the Reformation. Again, I hope it comes from abject ignorance, but the question is, does it?

It's hard to say.

Mary, the Saints, and the Question of Worship

Sometimes Protestants think that Catholics worship Mary like she's another god, but that's not exactly Catholic doctrine. There's the understanding, and people say, well, what are the saints all about?

Why are you praying to the saints? And when you understand what they mean by what they're saying, there's a whole lot more commonality. Now, there's still real differences, no doubt about that. But the most important thing is if you love Jesus, we're on the same team.

Well, thank you very much, Rick. If you love Jesus, we're all on the same team. Does that include Mormons? How about Jehovah's Witnesses? They love Jesus. How about the Muslims? They love Jesus too. Are we all on the same team?

No, we are not on the same team. Every one single one of the Judaizers in Galatia loved Jesus, seemingly was completely orthodox on the doctrine of who Christ was and so on and so forth, but according to scripture, we were not on the same team.

This whitewashing of the hyperdulia given to Mary, this whitewashing of the fact that Rome has paralleled in Mary the unique offices of Jesus Christ, this whitewashing of the prayers to saints. Pastor Warren, have you read anything about the Reformation?

Are you not aware of the fact that from the very time, the very first generation of the Reformers, in the second generation, how about we go to the second generation, that Calvin specifically dealt with the fraudulent, ridiculous kind of differentiation made between Latria and Dulia within Roman Catholicism?

Are you not aware of these things, Pastor Warren? To say that, well, there's an understanding. What you're saying is you're validating the grossly unbiblical assertion that Latria and Dulia are separate things.

They are not. Latria and Dulia are both translations of the one Hebrew term, ahav, which means to worship or serve God. And when you see a person bowing down before a saint, lighting candles, praying in that person's name, just go read Liguri's The Glories of Mary, Pastor Warren, and tell me that's not worship.

Abject capitulation to Roman ecumenism is what we have right here. That is idolatry that they're engaging in. And if you won't tell them that, you are not their friend and you are not showing them love in any way, shape, or form, any way, shape, or form.

You have been used as a pawn in this film. Either you're ignorant, or maybe you're just a willing pawn. I don't know. But the reality is what you've done here is just simply egregious malpractice for a man who calls himself a minister of the gospel.

Absolutely egregious. I call upon you to ask for that film to be removed. And I call upon you to repent to your congregation and explain to them what the real differences are and why they continue to matter to this day.

Why False Unity Still Matters

In closing, one of the first comments that I saw on the video when it was posted was that of a Catholic that has been attending Saddleback. And what he said was, well, no wonder I feel so at home there.

Pastor Warren, if a Roman Catholic believing the false gospel of Rome can feel at home in your church, you have betrayed the gospel. Repent, sir.

Thanks for watching.