Will the real Rick Warren please stand up

James 1:8 "A double minded man is unstable in all his ways."

Im a little older than some (48) but I remember the old Gary Moore show "To Tell the Truth." They would give a little information about a guy or girl and then the players would have to guess which one of the three contestants were the real deal.
This is what we have here with Rick Warren the author of Purpose Driven Life, Purpose Driven Church which have sold millions of books he also has hundreds of thousands of pastors who he gets information to through pastors.com, Ministry Toolbox, and enough purpose driven life stuff that would take a hour to list.

Well lets look at some facts (readers please decide for yourselves).
The book Purpose Driven Life has been promoted as not being a self help book then the book goes into self help mode where the focus in on self.

So is it a self help book or not?

There have also been a ton of exposes on how weak the gospel is presented in the book.
But Warrens excuseoligist's proclaim that Warren teaches the true gospel with out compromise at Saddleback.
But Umm err-most of us dont go to Saddleback.
Rick Warren not being influenced by Robert Schuller is often stated. But read Warrens article in the Ladies Home Journal which focus's on self sounds like Schullerisms to me.

Read the article in BusinessWeek titled" Earthly Empires "
quote""Our goal is not to turn the church into a business," insists Warren, the founder of Saddleback megachurch in Lake Forest, Calif."
then back up a few paragraphs and read
California megachurch pastor Rick Warren's 2002 book, The Purpose-Driven Life, has become the fastest-selling nonfiction book of all time, with more than 23 million copies sold, in part through a novel "pyro marketing" strategy.

Also to me thats a odd statement from someone who was mentored by Peter Drucker business guru deluxe.
On the same page there is a link here that takes you to another article titled"Evangelism Gone Entrepreneurial."
Here is Ricks quote from that
"Q: Why do we see so much entrepreneurial activity among evangelicals?
A: We've always been entrepreneurial. But 50 years ago, most of the evangelical entrepreneurs went into organizations like the Campus Crusade for Christ, World Vision, etc. The spirit used to be that you had to leave the church [to accomplish something great]. But now all of the smart guys I know are going out to become pastors and starting churches. We've helped thousands of churches get started. I've trained more than 350,000 pastors.

Lets look again
Our goal is not to turn the church into a business," insists Warren,
then from the other article-
Q: Why do we see so much entrepreneurial activity among evangelicals?
A: We've always been entrepreneurial. But 50 years ago, most of the evangelical entrepreneurs went into organizations like the Campus Crusade for Christ, World Vision, etc. The spirit used to be that you had to leave the church [to accomplish something great]. But now all of the smart guys I know are going out to become pastors and starting churches. We've helped thousands of churches get started. I've trained more than 350,000 pastors.

Just so we dont misrepresent something someone is saying lets look at the definition of entrepreneurial-

en·tre·pre·neurial (plural en·tre·pre·neurs)
Definitions:

risk-taking businessperson: somebody who initiates or finances new commercial enterprises.

Dont let Rick fool you. He is a brilliant businessman(thats why the world loves PDL so much) even in the first couple pages of PDL he attempts to sell you a Purpose Driven Scripture Keeper Plus and a Purpose Driven Life Journel.
So much for Ricks goal of not turning the church into a business.
1John 4:5-6 "These people belong to this world, so they speak from the worlds viewpoint, and the world listens to themBut we belong to God, that is why those who know God listen to us. If they do not belong to God, they do not listen to us. That is how we know if someone has the Spirit of truth or the spirit of deception."

Is Rick trying to purposely decieve you? Look at page 325 where Rick gives the excuse of why he used so many translations.
" I havent always quoted the entire verse, but rather the phrase that was appropriate."

A phrase that was appropriate to what Rick was saying (get that)- a point Rick was trying to make. Not in the context of what God was saying in scripture. This happens in many cases in PDL.
I call this backward theology. Word of faith people do this all the time. You make up a point you want to make or make up a doctrine you want to teach and then you pick pieces of scripture up from here and there to make your point.
Again there are literally hundreds of exposes on how Warren takes verses out of context. Go check it out for yourself on the internet.

So what does Rick really think or teach? Im not sure because I dont believe the real Rick Warren has stood up yet.