Scripture Misuse In The Purpose Driven Life: The First 7 Days

By Reese Currie, Compass Distributors

Rick Warren quotes from about 15 different Bible versions in the course of The Purpose Driven Life. Therefore, he knows when Scripture is accurately translated and when it is not. Very frequently, he chooses to exploit poor translations of Scripture to make his points, which better translations of Scripture would not support.

In this article, we are going to go over the Scriptures Rick Warren quotes, and compare them to a quotation from the New American Standard Bible, which is without any doubt the most accurate translation of the Nestle-Aland text that underlies all of the versions Warren quotes here.

A Journey with Purpose

Warren's quotation: "Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do." (Romans 12:2, NLT).

Compare: "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” (NASB)

Differences: Warren's quotation omits the part about not being conformed to the world, and guarantees knowledge of precisely what God wants you to do instead of knowledge of what His will is, which reflects a self-centered rather than God-centered approach.

Day 1: It All Starts with God

Warren's quotation: “Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life.” (Job 8:6, MSG).

Compare: “For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,” (Job 8:6, NASB).

Differences: There is little relation between Warren's quotation and accurate Scripture. The aspect of the flesh has been removed, the concept of spiritual death replaced with a simple “dead end”, a mind set is replaced with mere attention, and the concept of spiritual life and peace replaced with somewhat meaningless phrase “spacious, free life.”

Warren's quotation: “Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self” (Matthew 16:25, MSG)

Compare: “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matthew 16:25, NASB).

Differences: Again, almost nothing in Warren's quotation of a pitifully inaccurate paraphrase reflects Scripture. There is nothing about “self help”, the concept of spiritual death is omitted, the concept of losing one's present way of life is omitted, losing it for Christ's sake is omitted. This false scripture quotation is followed up with Warren's comment, “this is not a self-help book,” a comment totally unrelated to an accurate quotation of this verse of Scripture.

Warren's quotation: “God's wisdom...goes deep into the interior of his purposes...It's not the latest message, but more like the oldest...what God determined as the way to bring out His best in us” (1Corinthians 2:7, MSG)

Compare: “Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden {wisdom} which God predestined before the ages to our glory;{the wisdom} which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; but just as it is written, 'THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND {which} HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.'” (1Corinthians 2:6-9, with verse 7 in bold, NASB).

Differences: An enigmatic statement from Paul even in accurate Scripture, but Warren's quotation bears no resemblance. It is probably an attempt to find a plural form of the word “purpose” in New Testament Scripture, when in accurately translated Scripture, it does not appear.

As an aside, it is notable that 1Corinthians 2:4b-5 reads, “my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God” (NASB). The whole objective of The Purpose Driven Life is to have your faith rest on the “wisdom” of Rick Warren.

In Acts 20, Paul said, “I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.” (Acts 20:26b-27, NASB). What was the “whole purpose of God” that Paul declared? He said it in verses 20 and 21, “I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house, solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.” I note that Rick Warren's “gospel message” on page 58 omits any concept of repentance; his entire message is to “believe and receive” with flowery verbiage in between. God's purpose was also expressed by Peter in 2Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”

So, that's God's purpose. What's our purpose? The clearest statement of a Christian's purpose comes from 1 Peter 2:19-24:

¹⁹ For this {finds} favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly.

²⁰ For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer {for it} you patiently endure it, this {finds} favor with God.

²¹ For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps,

²² WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH;

²³ and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting {Himself} to Him who judges righteously;

²⁴ and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.

Our purpose, then, put in a nutshell, is to do right and suffer for it. In a sense, if we have not suffered, we have not done enough right yet. It is not that we should seek suffering, but suffering for doing right is practically guaranteed to happen in a fallen world. There is not a single word about the possibility of our suffering for doing right in The Purpose Driven Life. How could a teacher set down to write about our purpose and miss this, the one statement in the New Testament that actually uses the word “purpose” in relation to the individual Christian?

Warren's quotation: “It's in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone” (Ephesians 1:11, MSG).

Compare: “also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will,” (Ephesians 1:11, NASB).

Differences: The real Bible translation speaks of the fact that we are predestined to heaven according to His purpose, which we have already ascertained is that we would repent and receive faith in Christ, and the fact that He “works all things” so that His purpose (our repentance and faith) might be achieved. The rendering of Ephesians 1:11 in The Message is more or less from Eugene Peterson's imagination.

Day 2: You Are Not an Accident

Warren's quotation: “the LORD will fulfill His purpose for me” (Psalm 138:8a, NIV).

Compare: “The LORD will accomplish what concerns me” (Psalm 138:8a, NASB).

Differences: Warren's chosen translation again is too self-centered, indicating that God's focus is a concern for my purpose, instead of the fact that the writer was simply expressing his trust that God would accomplish everything that was of concern to him.

Warren's quotation: “Long before he laid down earth's foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love” (Ephesians 1:4a, MSG).

Compare: “just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.” (Ephesians 1:4, NASB).

Differences: God did not choose us apart from Christ, as Warren's inaccurate paraphrase suggests. The concept of our holiness and blamelessness in Christ is also absent from Warren's quotation.

Day 3: What Drives Your Life

Warren's quotation: “To worry yourself to death with resentment would be a foolish, senseless thing to do” (Job 5:2, TEV).

Compare: "For anger slays the foolish man, And jealousy kills the simple.” (Job 5:2, NASB).

Differences: There is basically no correlation between these concepts. Anger could slay the foolish man over a long period, as Warren's paraphrase says, or it could be quick. The notion of jealousy killing the simple is omitted.

Warren's quotation: Allow me to provide some context for this one, because Rick Warren has to cut off even his junky paraphrase mid-sentence to make his point. He writes, “In the Bible, many different people have expressed this hopelessness. Isaiah complained, 'I have labored to no purpose; I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing.” (Here he is quoting Isaiah 49:4 in The Message.)

Differences: Isaiah was not hopeless at all! The verse in accurate Scripture fully quoted reads, “But I said, "I have toiled in vain, I have spent My strength for nothing and vanity; Yet surely the justice {due} to Me is with the LORD, And My reward with My God." (Isaiah 49:4, NASB). Isaiah ended the sentence with a declaration of his hope. Therefore this is a direct lie by Rick Warren. There is no possibility he did not know he was lying, because even if he had finished the quotation from The Message, the truth would have come out.

Warren's quotation: “My life drags by, day after hopeless day” (Job 7:6, LB).

Compare: “My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, And come to an end without hope” (Job 7:6, NASB).

Differences: How on earth does “my days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle” turn into “my life drags by?” Job is speaking of his rapidly approaching death. The Living Bible quotation is a complete mistranslation.

Warren's quotation: “I give up; I am tired of living. Leave me alone. My life makes no sense” (Job 7:16, TEV).

Compare: "I waste away; I will not live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are {but} a breath” (Job 7:16, NASB).

Differences: There's not a word about having given up or being tired of living, and he wants them to leave him alone not because his life “makes no sense” but because his time is short. Then, as usual, expounding on a mistranslation, Warren says, “The greatest tragedy is not death, but life without purpose.” Remember, he is not totally ignorant of what the Scripture really says, because he quotes from the same version I am quoting one time. He is choosing to misrepresent the Scriptures by selecting bad mistranslations to prove his point, all the while knowing that they do not reflect accurate Scripture.

Warren's quotation: “You, LORD, give perfect peace to those who keep their purpose firm and put their trust in you” (Isaiah 26:3, TEV).

Compare: "The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace, Because he trusts in You” (Isaiah 26:3, NASB).

Again, Warren chooses a mistranslation to put the word “purpose” in our faces when it isn't really present in Scripture. It has nothing to do with a person keeping their “purpose.” It has to do with a person keeping their minds fixed in their trust of God. Another linguistic peculiarity in Warren's paraphrase is that the “purpose is firm” before they “put” their trust in God, while the whole tenor of the verse in real Scripture requires that the trust is already present. This paraphrase Warren quotes is nonsense, and even vaguely suggests a works salvation.

Warren's quotation: “I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead” (Philippians 3:13, NLT).

Compare: “Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of {it} yet; but one thing {I do:} forgetting what {lies} behind and reaching forward to what {lies} ahead” (Philippians 3:13, NASB).

Difference: Do you really think “one thing I do” equates to “I am focusing all my energies on this one thing?” That's a silly interpretation. For example, one thing I do is listen to CD's, but I'd be a pretty foolish person if I focused all my energies on listening to CD's. “One thing I do” just does not equate, in any rational mind, to “I focus all my energies on one thing.”

Then Warren says, “If you want your life to have impact, focus it. Stop dabbling. Stop trying to do it all. Do less. Prune away even good activities and do only that which matters most.”

This teaching is based on an intentional misrepresentation of Scripture on Warren's part.

Warren's quotation: “Let's keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us.” (Philippians 3:15, MSG).

Compare: “Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you” ( Philippians 3:15, NASB).

Difference: Warren uses this mistranslation from The Message to support his beliefs concerning focus on only one thing. The goal Paul spoke of in Philippians 3:14 was, “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (NASB). In Philippians 3:15, he treats that as a general attitude to apply to all of our activities—not as a “focus” or to remove activities. Where Paul says, “and if in anything you have a different attitude”--which I must note is Scripture deliberately eliminated from Warren's teaching because it argues against his point—Paul is speaking of many things we might do without having that attitude.

Warren's quotation: Allow me to establish a bit of context for this one. Warren quotes these verses relatively accurately, for him, but wrenches them from their context and misrepresents their meaning. He quotes, “Remember, each of us will stand personally before the judgment seat of God.... Yes, each of us will have to give a personal account to God” (Romans 14:10b,12, NLT).

Compare: “But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written, 'AS I LIVE, SAYS THE LORD, EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW TO ME, AND EVERY TONGUE SHALL GIVE PRAISE TO GOD.' So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God.” (Romans 14:10-12, NASB).

Difference: Paul was speaking of not judging one another in questionable things, like eating certain foods or celebrating or not celebrating holidays, because God will judge. Basically, Paul was saying, “do not judge others according to your own questionable criteria; let God judge in those things.”

Immediately after this quotation, Rick Warren demonstrates a total misunderstanding or perhaps a total lack of regard for the Scriptures by putting out his own questionable notions on how we shall be judged! Then he gives his personal criteria that are extremely Biblically flawed!

For example, he says, “God won't ask about your religious background or doctrinal views.” But the Bible says He will most certainly take doctrine into account, for example in Matthew 15:9, Mark 7:7, 1Timothy 1:3, 1Timothy 4:1,6, 1Timothy 6:1-3, 2Timothy 4:3, Titus 1:9, Titus 2:1, and Titus 2:7.

Warren claims there will be two questions God asks us: “What did you do with my Son, Jesus Christ?” and “What did you do with what I gave you?” Both work related questions. Then he adds, “Preparing you for these two questions is the goal of this book.”

When Jesus was asked this same question, He gave a radically different answer.

“Therefore they said to Him, 'What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?' Jesus answered and said to them, 'This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent'” (John 6:28-29, NASB).

What makes this “work” is, we must believe in the Jesus who presents Himself in the Bible, not a false Jesus that, frankly, has been dreamed up by clergymen, who represents someone they find a little more palatable than the real Jesus.

In Warren's case, he desires a Jesus who has no concerns about doctrine at all. That's not the real Jesus. He also wants a Jesus who judges us on our work, versus a Jesus who judges us on our willingness to believe in the real Jesus, because while he can work really hard and show really good results (if numbers are results), he still despises a Jesus who has concerns about truth in doctrine.

The basic problem is, everyone wants a Jesus who judges them on criteria in which they are strong, instead of criteria in which they are weak. Here Warren makes up his own criteria, areas in which he is strong. But he directly contradicts many Scriptures to avoid thinking about the area in which he is obviously very weak, which is, having truth in his doctrine.

Day 4: Made to Last Forever

There are some less than great translations in chapter 4, but none of the quotations in this chapter are so off in themselves as to warrant attention. This doesn't mean I agree with all of Warren's teachings on Day 4, but only to say that Scripture seems not to be misused on that day.

Day 5: Seeing Life from God's View

Warren's quotation: “Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God.” (Romans 12:2, CEV).

Compare: “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2, NASB).

Differences: It is interesting what Warren leaves out when he selects his translation of Romans 12:2, which he quotes repeatedly in the book. Warren's paraphrase refers to a one time change of mind while Romans 12:2 really describes an ongoing transformation through continual renewal. But what I find most interesting is Romans 12:2 calls us to “prove” what the will of God is, versus just “knowing” it. It carries a sense of testing and discerning what the will of God is. Warren's quotation in a sense guarantees that you'll know what God's will is without having to give it a lot of thought and examination. Frankly, that's probably because neither he nor any other evangelical course writer really wants you to question what he has written, but to “prove”, to “test”, to “discern” is to ask questions and seek answers.

Warren's quotation: Allow me to give this one some context, as this one is a very significant twisting of Scripture. Warren has spent some time claiming that God tests people, then quotes, “God keeps his promise, and he will not allow you to be tested beyond your power to remain firm; at the time your are put to the test, he will give you the strength to endure it, and so provide you with a way out” (1 Corinthians 10:13, TEV).

Compare: “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it” (1 Corinthians 10:13, NASB).

Differences: There are some elementary problems with the paraphrase Warren quotes; for instance, there is no guarantee that you won't be tested beyond your ability to remain firm—there's no guarantee that one won't be sorely tempted and waver—and the verse doesn't speak of God giving us strength to endure the temptation, but a way of escape. We're not to stand in the face of temptation to see how strong we are to endure it—we're to run away!

But none of that is the most serious problem. The most serious problem is, Rick Warren has just told us that God is the orchestrator of these “tests”, but the real word in Scripture here is “temptation,” and Scripture says very plainly, “Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am being tempted by God'; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone” (James 1:13, NASB).

This teaching that God tempts people is false. Just because the worthless paraphrase he quotes says “tests” doesn't mean that a false teaching has not been intentionally promulgated by Warren, who is aware of and has quoted the version I am quoting.

Warren's quotation: “[God] blessed them and said, 'Have many children, so that your descendants will live all over the earth and bring it under control. I am putting you in charge” (Genesis 1:28, TEV).

Compare: “God blessed them; and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth'” (Genesis 1:28, NASB).

Notice that rule over the animals is eliminated from Warren's paraphrase. He doesn't teach anything inappropriate based on that, but why is it impossible for Warren to ever choose an accurate translation even when he's not exploiting its inaccuracy?

Day 6: Life is a Temporary Assignment

Warren's quotation: quotes a really bad paraphrase of 1Peter 2:11, “Friends, this world is not your home, so don't make yourselves too cozy in it. Don't indulge your ego at the expense of your soul” (1 Peter 2:11, MSG).

Compare: “Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul” (NASB).

Differences: The paraphrase doesn't actually tell us to abstain from fleshly lusts, but from indulging our ego; in fact, it omits the “flesh” concept altogether. The cost of “indulging our ego” is either overestimated or underestimated depending on how you interpret the paraphrase. If “expense of your soul” is interpreted as the loss of the soul, then it is overestimated. But if one was to interpret the expense to one's soul as being small, it would also be incorrect, because in fact fleshly lusts wage an all-out war against our souls. It's so poorly written it is hard to ascertain which of these it is meant to convey. At the same time, accurate Scripture seems quite clear to me.

Warren's quotations: Allow me to provide some context for this one. Warren quotes two radically different paraphrases of the same Scripture, 2 Corinthians 4:18, and rather dishonestly represents them as two different passages reinforcing his point. One (at footnote 10) reads, “The things we see how are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can't see will last forever” (The Message). The second at footnote 12 reads, “We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal”(NIV).

Compare: “while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:18, NASB).

The second paraphrase (from the NIV) isn't so bad. I just find it really funny that Warren would quote the same exact verse twice in two different versions and allow the lazy reader who isn't testing what he or she is reading to assume it is two different passages.

Warren's quotation: “Never focus on temporary crowns” (1 Peter 2:11, GWT).

Compare: “Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul.” (1 Peter 2:11, NASB).

Difference: The two versions of 2 Peter 2:11 bear no resemblance to one another, but what is truly astonishing about Warren's quotation is it bears no resemblance to what the GWT (God's Word Translation) actually says at 1 Peter 2:11, either! It actually reads, “Dear friends, since you are foreigners and temporary residents in the world, I'm encouraging you to keep away from the desires of your corrupt nature. These desires constantly attack you.”

Day 7: The Reason for Everything

Warren's quotation: “The heavens declare the glory of God.” (Psalm 19:1, NIV).

Compare: “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands” (Psalm 19:1, NASB).

Differences: Again, Warren's quotation is not precisely what is in the NIV; Warren inserts a period after the word God that isn't present in the NIV, which actually says “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”

It's funny that Warren injects a period that isn't there to indicate the end of a sentence, and omits the second part of the verse, which in NIV seems unrelated to the first part, but in NASB tells us why the heavens are telling of the glory of God—it's because their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. For no apparent reason Warren wants to omit the part about the heavens being the work of God's hands—perhaps trying to avoid offending evolutionists or those of non-Christian religions.

Warren's quotation: “The Word became human and lived among us. We saw his glory...a glory full of grace and truth” (John 1:14, GWT).

Compare: “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14, NASB).

Difference: Sometimes it is interesting what Warren chooses to omit; in this case, it is perhaps in the interests of ecumenism. The omitted words are “glory as of the only begotten from the Father.” It's funny that Warren's talking about God's glory being demonstrated through Christ, but then fails to communicate how that is possible—Christ is the only begotten from the Father. In the GWT itself, it is not omitted: “The Word became human and lived among us. We saw his glory. It was the glory that the Father shares with his only Son, a glory full of kindness and truth.”

Warren's quotation: “They are my own people, and I created them to bring me glory.” (Isaiah 43:7, TEV.)

Compare: “Everyone who is called by My name, And whom I have created for My glory, Whom I have formed, even whom I have made” (NASB).

Differences: The passage only relates to “everyone who is called by My name”, a concept omitted either in the translation or a concept Warren decided to omit, and again avoids mentioning the parts about God forming and making us.

Warren's quotation: “Use your whole body as a tool to do what is right for the glory of God.” (Romans 6:13b, NLT).

Compare: “and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin {as} instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members {as} instruments of righteousness to God.” (Romans 6:13, NASB).

Differences: There are numerous problems with Warren's paraphrase version. It omits the contrast between presenting the members of your body to sin and unrighteousness and presenting them to God. Also, an even more serious omission, when we present ourselves as instruments of righteousness to God we confess that it is actually God, not us, performing the acts of righteousness through us, and using us for His directed purposes. Meanwhile, “do what is right” seems to indicate that we're on our own here, so pick something to do.

Warren's quotation: To establish a bit of context, Warren has just taught his peculiar repentance-free gospel (“believe and receive”), and then follows up with an inaccurate rendering of John 3:36a, “Whoever accepts and trusts the Son gets in on everything, life complete and forever!” (MSG).

Compare: "He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him" (John 3:26, NASB).

Differences: “Accepts and trusts” is not exactly the same as “believes in.” Accurate Scripture at no point uses the term or concept “accept Christ” in describing salvation, but always “repent and believe”. So one who is found “believing in” the Son has eternal life; this person has necessarily already repented (that is, changed his or her mind) concerning incorrect and false beliefs and practices in order to believe in Jesus. (For those who claim repentance is not preparatory to faith: why did John the Baptist have to come to “prepare the way” with his message of repentance before Jesus' ministry began?)

Those who have not repented have certainly not obeyed the Son, whose message was consistently “repent.” But this part about obeying the son is stricken from Warren's quotation, which he cuts off in the middle.

In Conclusion

I believe that it is a duty of a pastor to examine the materials that will be used for teaching in his church. What is a shepherd to do other than to protect his flock? Yet thousands or even millions of pastors see nothing at all wrong with The Purpose Driven Life.

I would think it should have been obvious to anyone who is not Biblically ignorant that something was severely wrong with the Scriptures being quoted and the fact that Warren exploits those mistranslations in his teachings. Now, we all know pastors are “too busy” to protect their flocks by actually personally reviewing the courses they recommend, but I think if you read the above, a pastor should know something is severely wrong with the book by day 3, where there are several quotations that are the exact opposite of what is taught in accurate Scripture. What's wrong, exactly, with comparing anyone's teaching against the Scriptures? It is a practice recommended by the apostles themselves (Acts 17:11).

Apparently they view their job as “shepherd” not as ones protecting the flock from wolves, but as herding the flock to bookstores to get fleeced by Rick Warren and other false teachers.