Rick Warren clearly yoked with New Age Proponent Dr. Mark Hyman
1 Kings 12:28 Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. 29And he set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan. 30 And this thing became a sin: for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan. 31 And he made an house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi. 32 And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah, and he offered upon the altar. So did he in Bethel, sacrificing unto the calves that he had made: and he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made. 33 So he offered upon the altar which he had made in Bethel the fifteenth day of the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart; and ordained a feast unto the children of Israel: and he offered upon the altar, and burnt incense.
The year has just gotten underway but already we see that there is disturbing news in the church. The passage about King Jeroboam above was referenced to show an example of what happens when the concern for maintaining Biblical standards declines in a society. Not only can a nation become corrupted but its very religious institutions will as well. Jeroboam, out of concern for maintaining his power in the Northern Kingdom, set up false temples of worship for the Israelites of the North so they would not have to go to Jerusalem in the Southern Kingdom for worship. He not only violated numerous mosaic laws in the way he did this, he even brought back the dreaded golden calf idol which had angered God back in Exodus. And such is the case with churches in America today. The spiritual decline in America has led to churches becoming watered down and less concerned with following God. The result: a false worship. Rick Warren is taking this to new extremes with his “Daniel Plan” a spiritual diet plan named in tribute to Daniel and his fellow Israelites who refused to eat the meals offered by the pagan Kingdom of Babylon and still were far healthier than their gentile counterparts.
Many sites, including World View Times have done very thorough articles detailing that in implementing this plan, Warren has yoked himself up with Doctors Daniel Amen, Mark Hyman and Mehmet OZ, all of whom are involved in and are proponents of various spiritual practices such as Sufi Islam, the teachings of Mystic Emanuel Swedenborg, transcendental meditation and yoga among other things. Many people decide to turn to professionals, especially when it comes to meditation and yoga as this will allow them to try different practices which will help them to become more relaxed and spiritual. Professional yoga instructors, similar to the ones that have completed their yoga training in rishikesh will know how to make the people who are taking their class to become more spiritual and in time will make them healthier.
Now in order to really get a feel for what the Daniel Plan was about I went on the website to read the materials and watch the videos offered. Most of it is very straightforward health advice. None of the above pagan/New Age practices were mentioned in anything that I viewed on Warren’s Saddleback Church website. But the problem comes with the fact that Warren is strongly and wholeheartedly endorsing these doctors and their work, including their books and TV shows in which these unbiblical practices are advocated. It is a very mixed message to his congregation, Christians at large and the unbelieving world to be so in support of men who are such strong proponents of these ideas. For example, a brief scan of Dr. Oz’s own website takes you right to a page that teaches you to “Meditate to Lose Weight.” Yet, Warren has no problem proclaiming in videos his love for Dr. Oz’s work.
Additionally, the rhetoric on the site does lean towards globalism as we are told by Dr. Hyman that we need to live in “community” and the “individuals” will not survive in our future world of “group living.” Warren has repeatedly pushed for an ecumenical movement and merging of religious beliefs and this is just a continuation of it. There is no mention of Jesus anywhere on the pages of the Daniel Plan. And almost no urging to live a Christian life or serve God in what is being done in the Plan.
The sad thing in all of this is that Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego did not abstain from the Babylonian meals being given to them to be more fit, lose weight or get ready for beach season. They rejected the food being given because they believed and followed the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, The God of the Bible. And they refused to compromise any of their beliefs by mixing what God had declared as clean and pure foods with the unclean meals being offered by the Babylonians. Their refusal to compromise God’s Word and mix in with other belief systems is exactly what Warren is doing by being yoked with these three doctors and endorsing their work so strongly. We can only pray that amidst his efforts to lose 90 lbs, he also loses his repeated desire to forget about Biblical principles.
UPDATE: In another sign of the spiritual dangers of the doctors Rick Warren is promoting, Christian Research Network informed that Dr. Oz just recently planned a mass hypnosis through the television to help his viewers lose weight. Again, Rick Warren’s endorsement of doctors who use these spiritually dangerous methods is just error on his part.
