Updated February 12, 2008 (first published January 23, 2007) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -

We have often warned that one of the dangers and errors of contemporary Christian music is its refusal to separate from secular party music such as rock and rap. This is evident at Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church in southern California.

On April 17, 2005, when Rick Warren announced his P.E.A.C.E. program to Saddleback Church, he first sang Jimi Hendrix’s drug-drenched song “Purple Haze” to the congregation, accompanied by his “praise and worship” band! He said he had wanted to do that for a long time.

The following is from the Saddleback website for 2005:

“Our dances have become some of the most anticipated of our social events with hundreds of people attending. This Summer’s Night dance in our Worship Center promises to be the same.  It will begin with a light buffet style dinner followed by dancing to the sounds of our DJ on a huge 3,000 square foot ballroom competition floor. Professional lighting, effects and sound all blend together for a high-quality experience, all at an extremely reasonable price! Whether you bring a special friend, come alone or with a group, make sure you come ready to have fun! Music will consist of a wide variety providing for specific dances and freestyle. And what’s a summer night without some beach music and reggae?”

In the Friday Church News Notes for December 15, 2006, we reported on a Saddleback Worship concert that featured teenage girls doing immoral dance moves that include pelvic thrusts.

A video containing a graphical slide show from an Argentina missionary trip by Saddleback Church members featured John Lennon’s atheistic song “Imagine.” The trip, made August 1-12, 2006, was part of Rick Warren’s P.E.A.C.E. program, and the video was published on YouTube. The soundtrack uses several pieces of music, including John Lennon’s original recording of Imagine. The lyrics say: “Imagine there’s no heaven/ It’s easy if you try/ No hell below us/ Above us only sky.”

Saddleback Church features nine different “worship venues.” There is a worship style to suit every worldly taste. The Overdrive venue is “for those who like guitar-driven rock band worship in a concert-like setting that you can FEEL.” The Ohana venue comes “complete with hula and island-style music,” and on the first Saturday of every month you can take hula lessons during the potluck following the service. The Country venue features line dancing.

There is no separation from the world at Saddleback Church. Any sorry piece of rock or rap music is fine as long as it is accompanied by a thin veneer of religiosity.

There has never been anything innocent or pure about rock and roll. From its inception it has had two grand themes: licentiousness (sex, drugs, etc.) and rebellion (“I can do what I want to do any old time”), and this is nowhere more evident than in the music of Jimi Hendrix and the Beatles.

There is no excuse for this action on the part of an influential pastor who should set a standard of godliness instead of carnal foolishness. I want to say again publicly, Shame on Rick Warren, and shame on his fellow Southern Baptist Convention leaders for not publicly and unequivocally rebuking him for such worldly shenanigans.

“Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4).