Rancho Miller

Rick Warren is truly running the interfaith/compromise tracks these days.

— He’s part of the ONE Sabbath effort aimed at drawing attention to the needs of Africa — AIDS, hunger, poverty, etc. These are all noble causes that must be addressed by the people of God, but not in concert with member of other faiths. The ONE Sabbath involves representatives of several different religions. Imagine if someone had proposed to Elijah that he help famine victims by teaming up with Baal worshippers. Even apart from the multifaith aspect, though, the ONE Sabbath effort relies on government intervention rather than the efforts of ministries. It’s easy to argue that it’s more important to tackle these problems than it is to quibble about religious differences, but to proceed is to deny the uniqueness of Christ. Ultimately, the ONE effort is a lot of hot liberal air, which means that it’s easier to talk about doing something than doing it.

— He’ll be a keynote speaker at the Muslim Public Affairs Council’s convention Saturday, Dec. 20. He has spoken at other non-Christian faith gatherings in the past without offering them the Gospel. He likely will take the same approach here.

— He’ll give the invocation at Barack Obama’s inauguration. The media is amazed that Obama would allow a pro-life pastor to have such a high profile role and see it as a sign of Obama’s open-mindedness. I see it as a sign of Warren’s willingness to compromise. Obama has voted for partial-birth abortions and sat for 20 years under the spiritual authority of Jeremiah Wright. Warren apparently doesn’t see these things as impediments to asking the Lord’s blessing on Obama’s presidency. We pray for Obama every night in our house — that he will be saved and rescued from a futile life of unbelief. Will Warren do the same at the inauguration? Don’t hold your breath.

Now, I realize that Rick loves the associations with the big names. He’s an inveterate name dropper and braggart about his own success, as is easily seen in this 2005 Pew Forum transcript. That may be one of the reasons he’s doing the inaugurations. But in doing so, he’s also lending — in the eyes of many evangelicals — much legitimacy to Obama, who also has said that one of the first things he intends to do upon taking office is to sign the Freedom of Choice Act. So, perhaps, Warren will bless the new president as he goes on his way to do that.

That so many Bible-believing Christians fall in line with Warren and his “Purpose-Driven” fad is disturbing enough. That so many will applaud these things that he’s doing is worse.

You want to talk bailouts? What about the annual federal bailout called “farm subsidies”?

I love farming and farmers (although hugging is strictly off-limits). My grandpa was one. The best summers of my childhood were spent on his farm. My wife, kids and I live in the country on 2 acres, in the middle of farms, and tend to a 1/4-acre garden as well as a half dozen chickens.

But, as this article points out, most subsidy money goes to corporate farms, not the guys who live in our neighborhood. The impact of these subsidies on the physical health of the nation, let alone the financial health, can be seen in “The Omnivore’s Dilemma.”

Also, Thomas Sowell writes in “Basic Economics” that subsidies are never good, that they artifically inflate the cost of food and, eventually, everything else related to the production of that food.

It’d be good to reduce these subsidies. But, since Barack Obama is shaping up to be another FDR with his New New Deal (a/k/a a $1 trillion stimulus package), I doubt that’ll be happening soon.