Piper & Warren: Paving The Road to Rome?

“I… I’m uh… I’m uh… I need … I’m gonna need help to know why I should feel bad about this decision.”- John Piper defending his decision to invite Rick Warren to Piper’s Desiring God conference.

Pastor Ken Silva highlights the dangers of ecumenism as represented by the "Evangelicals and Catholics Together" declaration. Pastor Silva presented the dissenting positions of noted Evangelicals such as John Ankerberg, the late D. James Kennedy, John MacArthur and Dr. R.C. Sproul. Rick Warren makes himself quite clear that Roman Catholics are part of God's family.

Chuck Colson is a part of Rick Warren's " family ". Colson and Lutheran turned Catholic priest John Newhaus co-edited the ECT document. This same document states, "Evangelicals and Catholics are brothers and sisters in Christ."

Chuck Colson signed on to Rick Warren's global PEACE plan. Colson's prison ministry partner with Purpose Driven Ministries to bring Warren's psychology-driven "Celebrate Recovery" program to prisons.

Warren and Colson teamed up to create a DVD series called Wide Angle: Framing Your Worldview. "They explore such key issues as truth, tolerance, terrorism, reconciliation, and the purpose of life." Colson presented similar themes at the SBC's 2007 Annual Meeting with Rick Warren's image hovering on the Jumbotron. A letter of objection sent to the SBC regarding Colson's participation in the Annual Meeting went unanswered.

Similar intefaith activity caused division at an InterVarsity Christian Fellowship chapter at at George Washington University. According to Christianity Today:

"At issue was student leaders' worry that the national ministry confuses the gospel by cooperating with Roman Catholics, and has a mission statement that Catholics could sign without violating church teaching on the doctrine of justification—how sinners are declared righteous before God."

Ironically, CT referenced John Piper's book, "The Future of Justification: A Response to N.T. Wright in 2007." Piper and Wright were examples of the polarity of the subject. The debate can be found here.

Dr. Rod Rosenbladt of Concordia University describes Warren as a Southern Baptist Roman Catholic.

In 2007, Pope Benedict XVI laid down his strategy to combat defections by millions of Catholics joining evangelical Protestant churches in recent years. However, Rome is more than willing to accept converts to Roman Catholicism. And it seems Protestants are more than willing to help.

Three years later, more division is ocurring with John Piper's name on it. This time it looks like John Piper's poles may be shifting.

If Colson's network bandwidth increased by hooking his wagon to Warren's, could it be that John Piper is tempted to expand his network bandwidth with the Warren invitation?

There is still time to repent and restore.