In the Name Purpose
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In the Name of Purpose Sacrificing Truth on the Altar of Unity Tamara Hartzell In the Name of Purpose: Sacrificing Truth on the Altar of Unity Copyright © 2006 by Tamara Hartzell All rights reserved. This e-book may be freely copied and distributed provided that it is done so without any alterations and for non-commercial use only. E-mail your questions to [email protected]. All Scripture quotations are taken from the Authorized King James Bible. This book is gratefully dedicated to my parents for raising me in a church that grounded me in the truth and taught me to stand up for the truth. Acknowledgments To my beloved husband, for your faithful love, prayers, and tremen- dous support undergirding this long and burdensome task I give you my deepest love and gratitude. To all who have supported me in various ways throughout and have made this work possible, thank you from the bottom of my heart. To my precious Lord, absolutely nothing compares to the priceless privilege of knowing You, in daily life and for all eternity. Words are inadequate in expressing my deep gratitude for all that You are and all that You do. You are life’s greatest Treasure. If I gained the world, but lost the Savior, Would my gain be worth the life-long strife? Are all earthly pleasures worth comparing For a moment with a Christ-filled life?… O the joy of having all in Jesus! What a balm the broken heart to heal! Ne’er a sin so great, but He’ll forgive it, Nor a sorrow that He does not feel! If I have but Jesus, only Jesus, Nothing else in all the world beside— O then ev’rything is mine in Jesus; For my needs and more He will provide. 1 —Anna Ölander, 1904 Contents Note to the Reader............................................... 9 Introduction g Neutralizing Christianity. ..................................... 13 Part 1 g The Purpose-Driven “Groundbreaking Manifesto” and “Blueprint” 1. Which Light Are We Following?................................ 23 g Who Is Worthy of Praise and Glory?......................... 23 gThe Holy Scriptures: God’s All-Sufficient Light unto Our Path. ..................................................... 24 g Man’s “Light” Says Doctrinal Views Aren’t an Issue in God’s “Final Exam”............................................... 30 2. Humanism Achieves Immense Popularity. ...................... 35 gMany Driven into the Alluring “Light” of the Broad Way. ..... 35 Part 2 g The Purpose-Driven “Spiritual Journey”: It’s “Not about You,” or Is It? 3. The Bible Is Clear. ............................................ 41 gGod Takes 40 Days to Prepare People for His Purposes?....... 41 gGod’s Purposes are Man-centered?. ......................... 47 4. Purpose #1: You Were Planned for God’s Pleasure. ............. 49 gWorship That Is about You Is Not Worship of God. .......... 49 g Offering the Strange Fire of Profane Music Is Not Worship of God. ................................................... 53 g “The Foolishness of Preaching”.............................. 60 5. Purpose #2: You Were Formed for God’s Family................. 67 g “The Local Church Is the Body of Christ”..................... 67 gIs it Through the Blood of Our Redeemer Jesus Christ or the Lifeblood of a Local Church That We Have Spiritual Life?....... 72 6. Purpose #3: You Were Created to Become Like Christ........... 77 gWhich Is It, to Be like Christ or to Be like You?. .............. 77 gThe Fruit of the Spirit, or the Fruit of Community?............ 78 gThe Fruit of the Spirit, or the Fruit of Satan’s Temptations?.... 79 gInstant Sainthood Through the Power of God vs Spiritual Formation Through Spiritual Disciplines...................... 82 7. Purpose #4: You Were Shaped for Serving God.................. 89 gServe God According to Who He Is, Not According to Who You Are. .................................................. 89 gFinding Healing Through Our Wounds or Healing Through Christ’s Wounds?........................................... 99 gAiring Our Dirty Laundry Is Not Our Most Effective and Powerful Ministry in Serving God...........................101 8 . Purpose #5: You Were Made for a Mission.....................103 gWas Christ’s Mission on Earth to Atone for Our Sins or to “Introduce” People to God So They Can Become His Friends?. .................................................103 gIntroducing People to Which God?..........................104 gIntroducing People to God by Telling Them Mostly about You?. ....................................................106 g“Mission Accomplished!”..................................111 Part 3 g Counting All Things but Loss for the Knowledge of Purpose 9 . “There Is One Thing You Could Do Greater than Share Jesus Christ with Somebody”.......................................117 gStarting a Purpose-Driven Church. .........................117 gSharing the Message of Purpose with the World.............119 gThe True Purpose of Life Is “Becoming One with That Passive Spark of Divinity Longing for Actuality”?.............123 10. Purpose-Driven “No Matter What it Costs”....................135 gSacrificing Righteousness and Holiness......................135 gSacrificing the Truth of the Faith. ...........................136 gSacrificing the Mind of Christ...............................142 Part 4 g Leading the Masses into a Spiritual Awakening or a Unity of Spiritual Blindness? 11. “America’s Most Influential Spiritual Leader”...................151 g“What in the World Are Our Pastors and Church Leaders Teaching Their Congregations?”. ...........................151 g“Secular America’s Favorite Evangelical Christian”. ..........156 g“Ministering to Hurting People [Is] More Important than Maintaining Purity”. ......................................164 12. The New Reformation: “A Whole New Paradigm Between Faith Communities”...............................................169 gTurning the First Reformation Upside Down.................169 gInterfaith “Spiritual Care” -- “Whatever it Takes!”. ..........181 13. “Except the LORD Build the House, They Labour in Vain That Build it”..................................................... 195 gThe Kingdom of God Is the Narrow Way.................... 195 gIs Rick Warren’s P.E.A.C.E. Plan the Kingdom of God?........ 197 gSaving Bodies at the Expense of Souls -- A Revolution for Global Christianity........................................ 203 Part 5 g The Fulfillment of PEACE on Earth in the Name of Purpose 14. Declaring the End from the Beginning.......................... 211 g“The Global Peace Plan IS GOING TO HAPPEN”. ............ 211 gGod’s Global Judgment Precedes God’s Global Peace.......... 217 15. The Angel of Light’s “Plan” for World Peace.................... 225 gAn Interfaith Kingdom of World Servers Working Together as ONE................................................... 225 16. “The Power of ONE”. ........................................ 237 g“Together as ONE We Can Change the World”.............. 237 gThe U.N.’s Goals: Uniting the World as ONE................ 238 gInterfaith “Bread for the World” Feeds the Hungry........... 241 g“Unity Comes from Purpose, Not from Anything Else”....... 248 Part 6 g “Then There Will Emerge the Universal Religion, the One Church, and That Unified Though Not Uniform Approach to God” 17. “One Truth,” Many Theologies................................ 255 g“A Portion of Truth, Great or Small, Is Found in Every Religious and Philosophical System”........................ 255 18. “One God,” Many Paths...................................... 259 g“The Religions are the Tributaries of One Great River”........ 259 gUniting All Gods into ONE Through Interfaith Prayer Services. ................................................. 266 19. “One Church,” Many Expressions............................. 273 g“The Religion of the Future”. .............................. 273 gThe Body of Christ Transcends the Borders of the Faith of Christianity?.............................................. 274 gFundamentalism: An Enemy of the Universal Religion........ 278 gFinding One’s Own Self-Empowering Religious Expression.... 288 20. “One Divine Life,” Many ‘Little Christs’........................ 293 g“That Which Will Eventually Reorganize Our Human Life Is the Presence in the World of Those Who Know Christ as Their Example, and Recognize That They Possess the Same Divine Life”. ........................................ 293 g“A Leadership Model That Can Transform Your Life”......... 295 gGiving Heed to “the Fundamental Doctrines of the Ageless Wisdom”.................................................301 Part 7 g “The Last Gasp of Christendom” 21. Letting the Old Faith Crumble Away...........................317 gThe Spiritual Transformation of Today’s Christianity. ........317 22. “A Radically Different Kind of Church” for “the New Age”.......325 g“A Whole New Species of Church Is Emerging”..............325 g“Even the Term ‘Christ’ Carries Little Meaning”..............329 g“The Point of Interfaith Conversation Is Not to Decide Which Religious Propositions Are Right or Wrong”..........335 g“The Most Important Factor Is Vision!”.....................339 g“Either Everything Is Worship—or Nothing Is Worship”. ....347 Part 8 g “Take Heed Therefore That the Light Which Is in Thee Be Not Darkness” 23. Ripe for the Harvest..........................................355 gUnity at All Costs.........................................355 24. The Coming of the Universal “Christ” for the Many Who Are ONE vs The Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ for the Few Who Are His......................................................361