Desiring God 2010: Battle of the Mind or Bodies?

Now that the Rick Warren / John Piper Affair is over ( or has just begun), the Internet chatter seems to pit Warren vs. Piper, or Calvinism vs. Warrenism. Even Dr. Ed Stetzer of Lifeway Research casted a stone-throwing tweet at the Calvinist camp for resisting the participation of Warren's blatant Pelagianism at the conference.

John Piper claimed he was "going to go after Rick Warren" with 13 pages of questions regarding the Purpose Driven Life. Piper gushes over Rick Warren's ability to quote scripture to the point that Piper wanted to "just quit", apparently out of some intense personal sense of inadequacy.

Such a dramatic response of unworthiness on Piper's part continues to edify Rick Warren's ministry.

The reality is John Piper and Rick Warren are aligning their efforts, as Warren announced that the 2011 Desiring Gospel conference would be held at Saddleback Church.

Was this event intended to be a staged theological wrestling match where Warren's theology was to be declared at least compatible with Piper ( classic Hegelian dialectic maneuver ) who allegedly sits in the Calvinist camp?

Who were the spectators in the stadium who witnessed the event? Pastors, future pastors and laymen.

Is it possible that The Desiring God's Battle of the Mind was more a battle of the hearts of the spectators? Was this event a cloaked recruiting drive to siphon off attendees to expand Warren's network of franchises?

Sound outrageous? Take a look at Rick Warren's latest announcement about The Decade of Destiny and growing 100 new churches annually to the network.

Warren kicks off the the campaign with Vision rallies. Listen to Rick talk about Possessing Your Destiny:

" How you define life will determine your destiny... If you are going to maximize your life, you have to understand these three principles:

• life is a test
• life is a trust
• life is a temporary assignment

...you get to choose your destiny."

Warren's penchant for the law of attraction no doubt will under gird the Decade of Destiny's multilevel marketing motivational speeches to woo recruits, as those in attendance at the 2010 Desiring God conference.

Ezekiel 34: 7-10 (ESV)

7"Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: 8 As I live, declares the Lord GOD, surely because my sheep have become a prey, and my sheep have become food for all the wild beasts, since there was no shepherd, and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves, and have not fed my sheep, 9therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: 10Thus says the Lord GOD, Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my sheep at their hand and put a stop to their feeding the sheep. No longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, that they may not be food for them.