conspiracy theory for 6-6-06 = the new world order

I thought about saving this post for tomorrow, 6-6-06. But it illuminates and illustrates what I said about the psychological manipulation of our young men to create the kind of Hitler's Youth behavior we see so much of today. The kind of behavior that glorifies revenge, war, violence, torture, because the social norms against these acts are being officially marginalized.

Now, if the Army uses video games to inure soldiers to guilt over killing civilians, and the militant fundamentalist/evangelist church thinks it's useful to gain converts ... why would anyone label any ugly thing our monolithic, theocratic goverment stoops to do "a conspiracy theory"?

If they are willing to kill a half a million kids through "sanctions" such as malnutrition, bad water, and D.U. (remember what Madeline Albright said about the value of dying children to our foreign policy), or a hundred thousand people in an invasion for a lie, then why won't you consider that they might consider 3 thousand sacrificed Americans to be "collateral damage?" Do you really think an average American is more sacred to them than any other average human of the planet, when multinational corporate power over nations is their goal?

Read this, and ask yourself, where was the so-called liberal media that should have been reporting this? These people mentioned in the following article are some of the biggest movers and shakers in the Republican Party.

If you don't know what Dominionist Theology is, or the Federalist Society, for that matter, you should turn off your television set forever, and start reading. You won't be spoon fed this knowledge, and it ain't taught in schools. But the information is out there. It was important for the two Supreme Court appointments, which will affect our lives for our lifetimes, but you were probably too wrapped up in some ballgame, cable television soap, or FOR GOD'S SAKE PEOPLE! American Idol.
Wake up.

As in all things political, follow the money.
This is your GOP, on Viagra, with guns. Training your sons. 'As the twig is bent...'

I'll give you the start of Johnathan Hutson's expose here, then I hope you'll follow up on the rest of the story unfolding at his website. Particularly, you should look up the relationship between the Republican Party, the Bush administration, and the powerful rich men who operate behind the scenes, and thus unaccountable to the public, mentioned in the article.

(There is some mention of database mining in the article. Keep that in mind for later reference, because it'll be important when we examine the issues of both stolen elections and the NSA wiretapping Americans...)

Finally, as you read about the merging of corporate-religious-and state, keep in mind the definition and history of fascism.

http://www.talk2action.org/story/2006/5/29/195855/959
The Purpose Driven Life Takers (Part 1)
By Jonathan Hutson

Imagine: you are a foot soldier in a paramilitary group whose purpose is to remake America as a Christian theocracy, and establish its worldly vision of the dominion of Christ over all aspects of life. You are issued high-tech military weaponry, and instructed to engage the infidel on the streets of New York City.
You are on a mission - both a religious mission and a military mission -- to convert or kill Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, gays, and anyone who advocates the separation of church and state - especially moderate, mainstream Christians.

Your mission is "to conduct physical and spiritual warfare"; all who resist must be taken out with extreme prejudice. You have never felt so powerful, so driven by a purpose: you are 13 years old. You are playing a real-time strategy video game whose creators are linked to the empire of mega-church pastor Rick Warren, best selling author of The Purpose Driven Life.

The game, slated for release by October 2006 in advance of the Christmas shopping rush, has been previewed at video game exhibitions, and reviewed by major newspapers and magazines. But until now, no fan or critic has pointed out the controversial game's connection to Mr. Warren or his dominionist agenda.
The game, Left Behind: Eternal Forces, is based on scenes from the first four novels in the series. The game was developed by a publicly-traded company called Left Behind Games, according to SEC records. The developers obtained the license from Tyndale House, the Christian publisher of Left Behind.

Tyndale also publishes Bringing Up Boys and The Complete Marriage and Family Home Reference Guide by Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, PhD. Mr. Dobson has advised parents to monitor the amount of time children spend playing video games and "avoid the violent ones altogether." But he has not yet stated his views on whether there should be an exception for video games that role play gunplay in the name of Christ, or of the AntiChrist.
Tyndale's licensing of the project infuriated one of its authors, Jack Thompson, a conservative Christian attorney and outspoken critic of video game violence, who told the Los Angeles Times that he severed ties with his publisher in a dispute over "Left Behind: Eternal Forces."
"It's absurd," said the video critic. "You can be the Christians blowing away the infidels, and if that doesn't hit your hot button, you can be the Antichrist blowing away all the Christians."

The firm's CEO is relying on network marketing through pastoral networks as a key part of his business plan, according to a report in the March 6, 2006, issue of Newsweek Magazine:
Left Behind Games CEO Troy Lyndon, whose company went public in February, says the game's Christian themes will grab the audience that didn't mind gore in "The Passion of the Christ."

"We've thought through how the Christian right and the liberal left will slam us," says Lyndon. "But megachurches are very likely to embrace this game." Though it will be marketed directly to congregations, Forces will also have a secular ad campaign in gaming magazines.

As part of its marketing pitch, Left Behind Games hypes the realism with which it portrays the neighborhoods of New York City. There is, for the most part, a remarkable verisimilitude except for one detail - all of the ambulances have 911 painted on their roofs. In the reality-based world, most ambulances have a red cross on top. Yet the game designers make prominent use of these 911 ambulances to evoke the tragic events of September 11, 2001. The historical context of 911 is invoked as if to say, We are living in the End Times, and Muslims are among the kinds of infidels whom you should fear, whom you should be prepared to kill for your cause.

For game enthusiasts, there is also a multi-player mode, in which you can go online and battle to take territory from other players. If you happen to blow away a neutral party - and collateral damage is inevitable in the End of Days - then you will lose "Spirit Points". But you can power back up with merely a brief timeout for prayer, or by converting one of New York's terror-stricken citizens.

Time has dubbed Mr. Warren "America's minister." But Mr. Warren says that his agenda stretches far beyond America, and far beyond traditional ministry. He sees himself as the CEO of a global marketing enterprise, and as the Commander in Chief of a stealth army of one billion Christian foot soldiers.
On the 25th Anniversary of his Saddleback Church on April 17, 2005, Mr. Warren filled the Angels baseball stadium in Anaheim, California, with tens of thousands of his flock. Mr. Warren signaled his belief that we are now approaching the End of Days by opening with a rock band, which played the Jimi Hendrix drug anthem Purple Haze. As the band jammed, Mr. Warren sang the lyrics:
Purple haze all in my eyes
Don't know if it's day or night
You got me blowin', blowin' my mind
Is it tomorrow, or just the end of time?

The Director of the Peace Corps, Gaddi Vasquez, read a message of support from President George W. Bush.
Then Mr. Warren called on his flock to support a $40 million capital campaign to expand missionary training facilities at Saddleback's 120-acre campus in Lake Forest, California. He pledged participants to achieve a purpose-driven ministry overseas.

His dominionist theology is apparent in this ministry. A key aspect of dominionist thought is a conviction that the Scripture gives the church a mandate to take dominion over this world socially and culturally before the return of Jesus Christ.
Mr. Warren's global plan is a strategy to realize a dominionist vision of churches, states, and corporations forming partnerships to bring about a new world order to make way for Christ's return by establishing a literal, physical kingdom of God on earth. In order to build this earthly kingdom, Mr. Warren plans marketplace ministries - business ventures with a veneer of missionary compassion that slip into a country in order to transform it systematically through the governmental, corporate, and social sectors.
And that is why Mr. Warren calls himself a "stealth evangelist" - because he wishes to cloak his dominionist agenda, which is the establishment of an earthly kingdom that reflects his skewed vision of Christianity.
According to Mr. Warren, the establishment of this earthly kingdom requires "foot soldiers." As part of his plan, Mr. Warren said he would encourage laypeople to "adopt" needy villages overseas in order to plant churches, expand business opportunities, educate children, influence governments, and overthrow corrupt political leaders, whom he described as "little Saddams." Mr. Warren said his purpose is to enlist "one billion foot soldiers for the Kingdom of God" in the developing world. And the stadium crowd roared its approval.

Celebrants included Paul Kagame, the president of Rwanda, a tiny east African country that lost hundreds of thousands of people when it suffered genocide in 1994. Catholic and Protestant clergy have been convicted in connection with that genocide. Yet Mr. Kagame announced that he would allow Mr. Warren to turn his country into the first purpose driven nation. The following month, 16 Rwandan religious leaders arrived in Orange County to begin religious training at Saddleback Church. Mr. Warren has said that his global initiative was developed "underground" and in "stealth". Presumably, this was done with the assistance of Mr. Carver, who directs the Purpose Driven Church in all its activities outside North America.
Yet through an unexpected turn of events in Georgia, the spotlight was turned on Mr. Warren's stealthy strategy in March 2005, when Ashley Smith read a passage from The Purpose Driven Life to the Atlanta courthouse killing suspect, Brian Nichols. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Nichols freed his hostage and surrendered to police. The entire world suddenly wanted to hear from Mr. Warren, who was busy planting the seeds of a Christian theocracy with his "foot soldiers" in Rwanda.
On March 22, 2005, CNN's Larry King interviewed Mr. Warren about the Atlanta courthouse shooting and hostage taking. A caller asked, "Can you explain the sudden thirst or craving that people seem to have for religion?
Mr. Warren replied:"[T]here are really two stories going on in our culture right now. There is the story of things are getting more worse [sic] in some ways. We're seeing the increase in violence. We're seeing terrorism. We've seen these recent shootings. We're seeing the coarsening of our society, that has disgusted a lot of people. And there is people [sic] -- some people are more materialistic than ever.But at the same time, there's another story going on in America, that I think is a spiritual awakening that is brewing. And that is a desire and hunger to know God. I don't always think it's always a desire and hunger for church. But there is a desire and hunger to know God.
So according to Mr. Warren, the worst of American culture is reflected in examples of violence, terrorism, shootings, and the coarsening of our society, that turn people away in disgust. And in addition, "some people are more materialistic than ever."
If violence, coarseness, and materialism are serious social problems, then what purpose is served by exploiting a global pastoral network to mass market a game about mass killing, whether in the name of Christ or the AntiChrist?

On the one hand, this video game is anti-American, because it endorses roving death squads engaged in faith-based violence without any regard for Constitutional law.

On the other hand, the video game is anti-Christian, because it argues that the Kingdom of God can be advanced by using the methods and tools of the kingdoms of this world, namely guns and bombs.
The Scriptures say, "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." (Proverbs 22:6) The Scriptures do not say, "Train up a child in the way he should blow away the people of God as well as infidels: and when he is old enough, he will go out and do some killing."
As Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would fight that I might not be handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here" (Gospel According to John 18:36). As Paul said, "Though we walk in flesh, we do not make war in accordance with the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly." (2 Corinthians 10:3-4a).
The dominionist Christians pushing this violent video game are modeling neither Christian charity nor patriotism. Both Christians and patriots should oppose them.

UPDATE
Endorsement by Association
What is going on here is an old fashioned business idea of endorsement by association, in which a corporation gains the implied endorsement of a product by being able to invoke the name brand of a prominent person or celebrity. In this case, this is an alliance of business and ministerial interests invoking the name brand of the Mr. Warren's Purpose Driven Church. Mr. Warren does not have to explicitly endorse or be involved in the product in order to be held accountable for allowing his name brand to be used in the selling of this antisocial product.
Some people have commented that the link between Mr. Warren's purpose driven empire and this product is casual. Let's be clear: Mark Carver is Executive Director of the Purpose Driven Church, and therefore works directly for Mr. Warren in one of the most senior roles in his empire. It would seem unlikely that Mr. Warren, who plans an international stealth evangelism campaign that already includes the president of Rwanda, is unaware of this project, the biggest Christian video game in history. Mr. Carver's role on the Advisory Board of Left Behind Games, the corporation created in October 2001 specifically to develop and market this violent video game, is an association clearly more active than a casual. People are involved on this Advisory Board because of their expertise, and their connections to markets -- in this case, Mr. Warren's. On its corporate web site -- part of its merchandising pitch -- Left Behind Games touts its association with Mr. Carver, and makes clear his prominent role in Mr. Warren's Purpose Driven Church.
In other words, Left Behind Games is invoking its association with Mr. Warren's Purpose Driven Church as part of its product marketing strategy. Do we think that Mr. Warren would allow his name brand and reputation to be casually invoked in a major business venture that involves one of the largest publishers in the Christian marketplace, who published the Left Behind novels, one of the best selling fiction series of all time? Does anyone think that Left Behind Games invoked the name brand of Mr. Warren's Purpose Driven Church without his permission? Since this possibility is farfetched, what we are looking at here is a business/marketing alliance between several evangelical business and ministerial entrepreneurs for whom the Great Commission also means great profits.
Left Behind Games plans to market directly to pastoral networks and mega-churches, using the same network marketing strategies that turned Mr. Warren's book The Purpose Driven Life into a best seller . Mr. Carver has a lot of expertise and connections in this area. Will Mr. Warren's mega-church be offering this game for sale to its members? Will Mr. Warren's global pastoral network be used to distribute the game? On the other hand, if Mr. Warren is unaware and uninvolved, do we think he will fire Mr. Carver for marketing a product that helps children practice killing New Yorkers?
Time magazine has described Mr. Warren as one of the nation's most influential Evangelical Christian leaders. He describes himself as a "stealth evangelist" and describes his training programs as "a stealth movement, that's flying beneath the radar, that's changing literally hundreds, even thousands of churches around the world." He claims that he has sold tens of millions of copies of The Purpose Driven Life by developing a worldwide network of pastors.
The international director of Mr. Warren's Purpose Driven Church, Mark Carver, is a former investment banker who serves on the Advisory Board of the corporation created in October 2001 to develop and market this game. The creators plan to market their game using the same network marketing techniques that Mr. Warren used to turn The Purpose Driven Life into a commercial success. For example, they plan to distribute their merchandise through pastoral networks, especially mega-churches.
This game immerses children in present-day New York City -- 500 square blocks, stretching from Wall Street to Chinatown, Greenwich Village, the United Nations headquarters, and Harlem. The game rewards children for how effectively they role play the killing of those who resist becoming a born again Christian. The game also offers players the opportunity to switch sides and fight for the army of the AntiChrist, releasing cloven-hoofed demons who feast on conservative Christians and their panicked proselytes (who taste a lot like Christian).
Is this paramilitary mission simulator for children anything other than prejudice and bigotry using religion as an organizing tool to get people in a violent frame of mind? The dialogue includes people saying, "Praise the Lord," as they blow infidels away.
The designers intend this game to become the first dominionist warrior game to break through in the popular culture due to its violent scenarios and realistic graphics, lighting, and sound effects. Its creators expect it to earn a rating of T for Teen. How violent is that? That's the rating shared by Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell - Chaos Theory, a top selling game in which high-tech gadgets and high-powered weapons - frag grenades, shotguns, assault rifles, and submachine guns -- are used to terminate enemies with extreme prejudice.
Could such a violent, dominionist Christian video game really break through to the popular culture? Well, it is based on a series of books that have already set sales records - the blockbuster Left Behind series of 14 novels by writer Jerry B. Jenkins and his visionary collaborator, retired Southern Baptist minister Tim LaHaye. "We hope teenagers like the game," Mr. LaHaye told the Los Angeles Times. "Our real goal is to have no one left behind."

Violent Video Game Marketed Through Mega-Churches (Part 2)
By Jonathan Hutson
http://www.talk2action.org/story/2006/6/1/82458/92817

Strap on your seat belts and hold onto your dashboard Jesus, because the story of how this violent, theocratic video game is being network marketed through pastors and churches only gets deeper and stranger from here. But bear with us as we wade into the corporate mindset of mega-church marketing; the long, strange trip will be worth it.
Along the way, we'll point out four remarkable, man-made features like giant, painted, concrete cowboys along Route 66 - wondrous to behold, and worth a closer look.
First, we'll meet the designers of Left Behind: Eternal Forces and learn what kinds of "Christian stuff" and "cool stuff" this game features - like rotting bodies of New Yorkers piled high on city streets. Seriously: it's a game feature. You cannot make this stuff up.

Second, we'll meet the spiritual warfare practitioner and celebrated management consultant who shaped Mr. Warren's life over the course of more than 20 years. Yes, although Mr. Warren is hailed as "America's minister," he's actually a businessman and a disciple of the most famous management guru of the 20th Century.

Third, we'll meet the man who directed the marketing plan that drove Mr. Warren's book The Purpose Driven Life to the top of best seller lists. And we'll hear the surprising story of why Mr. Warren tried to censor this man's how-to book on network marketing, which treats churchgoers as customers, and converts customers into evangelists for corporate products.

Fourth, we'll find out what Mr. Warren means when he compares his corporate management and marketing practices to an Intel operating chip. Holy Motherboard of God!

All the Christian Stuff, and All the Cool Stuff
Left Behind Games executives Troy A. Lindon and Jeffrey S. Frichner told the Los Angeles Times of their plans to build buzz for Left Behind: Eternal Forces by distributing 1 million sample discs directly through churches nationwide. This is a sign that their approach follows the same marketing strategy that Mr. Warren used to ramp up early sales numbers for his international best seller The Purpose Driven Life. The L.A. Times reports:
" 'Left Behind' has the Antichrist, the end of the world, the apocalypse," said co-creator Jeffrey S. Frichner. "It's got all the Christian stuff, and it's still got all the cool stuff."That's why industry watchers predict that titles like "Eternal Forces" will find a broader audience in the same way Christian houses of worship like Pastor Rick Warren's Saddleback Church in Lake Forest have attracted followers -- in part by not being overly doctrinaire.
"The reason that I think this game has a chance is that it's not particularly preachy," said Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush Morgan Securities. "I will say some of the dialogue is pretty lame -- people saying, 'Praise the Lord' after they blow away the bad guys."
Okay, so we've got Christian paramilitary forces loose on the streets of New York, fighting to turn the United States into a theocracy, and shouting "Praise the Lord!" as they blow away those who refuse to convert. In the virtual world of Left Behind only the conservative Evangelical Christians were "raptured" - spirited into heaven for the big Super Bowl party and skybox seats to the ultimate battle between absolute theocracy and the absolutely AntiChrist. So who's "left behind" to blow away?
Catholics, mainstream moderate Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, atheists, suspiciously well-groomed men, lesbians, and conservative Evangelicals who are closet gays.
(As Congressman Barney Franks (D-Massively Funny) has said, "Throw the gays out of church? Who do you think has been playing the damn organ all these years?")
Blowing away these good folk ("Praise the Lord!") - is that supposed to be the "Christian stuff" or the "cool stuff"?
How about this nifty game feature: the bodies of slain New Yorkers don't disappear after a battle, and no one gives them a decent burial. Instead, the festering corpses just keep piling up: left behind. Is that "Christian" or "cool"?
Or how about this: The game portrays the United Nations - hello again, Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, Catholics, and Jews - as the headquarters of the demonic forces of the AntiChrist, who is spawned by DNA from two gay lovers (hello, Greenwich Village!). So nice to see you all, my errant, resisting brothers and sisters. BLAM! BLAM! "Praise the Lord!"
Mr. Lynch explains in an interview with the video game industry site GameDailyBiz how parents can spend quality time with their children by sharing the joys of infidel cleansing, paramilitary style. He also avers that violence and Christian entertainment naturally - and profitably -- go hand in hand.
"Left Behind Games was established on the belief that given the choice, people will voluntarily choose games with positive moral elements. We just need to make sure the Christian games are as fun to play as other games. Only one of the top twenty grossing movies of all time was rated R, and that movie was The Passion of the Christ."
It is my opinion that Christian games can only make a positive difference in our culture if they portray the Jesus of the Bible; a caring loving person who didn't come to condemn, but to save. This message will reach our youth...and the best way we can show the youth we care, is by spelling love as TIME. As parents, we need to be connected with our kids and video games provide a great opportunity for us to do this on a regular basis."
Oh, "positive moral elements," is it? "Caring and loving" quality time? Then how does he explain that his game allows children to switch perspectives and command the demonic soldiers of the AntiChrist, who (I'm not making this up) feast on the Christians. How is that caring and loving? What kind of quality time is that? What deity are the Dads and lads supposed to praise as the demonic forces at their command drink the blood of Christian theocratic militia members?Just how crass is it for a children's "physical and spiritual warfare" game to be set in New York City, where billows of smoke roil from downtown skyscrapers, and ambulances all have "911" painted on their roofs? In real life, these ambulances would have a red cross or a paramedic star on top, not a "911".
But Left Behind Games was created in October 2001 -- the month following the tragedy of September 11, 2001. So maybe the game designers had that on their minds when they created a game that has New Yorkers being killed by paramilitary fighters shouting, "Praise the Lord!" That's not a far step removed from the terrorists who slammed planes into the World Trade Center, shouting, "God is great!"
And speaking of the World Trade Center, with its billows of smoke and people holding hands as they leaped to their deaths... This is actually hard to write. I went to New York University School of Law; I have close friends who saw the flames, the smoke, the bodies and body parts heaped on the street. That's the stuff of post-traumatic stress for New Yorkers who witnessed that. So what kind of caring, loving Christians design a game where New York City is choking with smoke billowing from skyscrapers, as bodies pile up in the streets, and holy warriors kill infidels while shouting, "Praise the Lord!"?
This outrage demands an apology. This is shameless and bigoted filth, and it is an abomination that any pastor, any mega-church would push this product in its pews. Make that peeYEWS, because this stinks to high heaven.

In its review of Left Behind: Eternal Forces GameSpy wrote:
As for the violence in a game built from a Christian perspective, Lyndon doesn't shy away from that either, pointing out that the Bible itself is quite a violent book. "The point of morality is that people have a choice in how they react to situations -- and one of those choices is always going to be violence." While the game itself has no blood, it doesn't shy away from showing corpses, and lots of them. In fact, one of the things people might find surprising is that bodies in this game don't disappear, making for some gruesome landscapes as corpses pile up in the streets of New York. "Violence has consequences -- even justified violence," Lyndon said. "You can behave morally and still cause harm."But can you callously cause harm and call that morality?

What Would Drucker Do?
Time magazine, which once designated the Rev. Billy Graham as American's foremost evangelist, has now dubbed Mr. Warren as "America's minister" and the Second Coming of Rev. Graham. But the dry-eyed Forbes magazine has appraised him from a Wall Street perspective. Forbes called Mr. Warren's previous book, The Purpose Driven Church, "The best book on entrepreneurship, management, and leadership in print." Oh, by the way, it's got some new age spirituality mixed in with the management and marketing theories, too.
Mr. Warren received his Doctorate in Ministry from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. At the same time, he sat at the feet of a man who is remembered as the greatest management guru of the 20th Century, Peter F. Drucker, who taught at the nearby Claremont Graduate School.
Mr. Drucker is known as the father of modern management for his work on innovation, entrepreneurship, and strategies for change. Mr. Drucker once said, "I became interested in management because of my interest in religion and institutions." It was Mr. Drucker who taught Mr. Warren how to apply the systematic study of management to mega-churches. Mr. Drucker coached pastors, including Mr. Warren, through the Leadership Network. In a tribute to Mr. Drucker, the Leadership Network speaks of Mr. Warren and his Saddleback Church leaders:
Warren says his staff reads and discusses Drucker's writings, using them to manage the church's multi-faceted ministry. Everyone who walks into the pastor's office is reminded of Drucker's well-known advice, which appears on a print that Drucker signed and gave to Warren: *"What is our business?"
*"Who is our customer?"
*"What does the customer consider value?"
Mr. Warren has described Mr. Drucker as his mentor of more than 20 years."As a young man (I was about 25), I began to call him up, write him, go see him," Mr. Warren said in eulogizing Mr. Drucker, who passed away in November 2005 at the age of 95. "Before his passing, I would sit at his feet regularly. He honed into me hundreds of one-liners and taught me that growth always comes from the outside -- from people who are not now using your product, or listening to your message, or using your services."
Mr. Drucker stopped giving interviews, for the most part, in 2002. But he made an exception in October 2004 - for Mr. Warren - who arranged an interview by Forbes Publisher Rich Karlgaard. The interview took place in Mr. Drucker's home in Claremont.
"The most dangerous traps for a leader are those near-successes where everybody says that if they just give it another big push it will go over the top," Mr. Drucker told Forbes. "One tries it once. One tries it twice. One tries it a third time. But, by then it should be obvious that this will be very hard to do. So, as I always advise my friend Rick Warren, 'Don't tell me what you're doing, Rick. Tell me what you've stopped doing. ' "
Left Behind Games first announced that it would release its violent, theocratic videogame in late 2005, and then promised it would hit the shelves of Walmart, and the pews of mega-churches, by Easter 2006. Now, they're giving it a third try, aiming for an October 2006 release, in time to see their video - and its vision of fundamentalist, religious zealots attacking New York City and dead New Yorkers rotting on the streets - gift-wrapped for Christmas. Meanwhile, they continue to merchandise their product by invoking the name brand of the Purpose Driven Church on their web site.
It seems far-fetched to suppose that Mr. Warren allowed his organization's name brand to be used by accident, or without his prior approval. But if he knows nothing of this, then he should follow his mentor's advice, and tell us what he's stopped doing.
Mr. Carver is advising the corporation that created and marketed this game. Why is he involved? First, to give them business advice, because he is involved in marketing analogous products to the same customer base - pastoral networks and mega-church members. And he also brings the luster of the Mr. Warrens' Purpose Driven name brand - a business technique known as "endorsement by association."
The Left Behind Games web site - part and parcel of its marketing pitch - states:
"Mark Carver is the Executive Director for Purpose Driven, the leadership/church growth training arm of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, one of the largest churches in America with a weekly congregation in excess of 10,000."And if Mr. Carver is invoking the Purpose Driven Church name brand without Mr. Warren's permission to market this disreputable product, then what would Mr. Drucker say about that?

PyroMarketing, or What a Trend We Have in Jesus
Greg Stielstra, who directed the marketing campaign for The Purpose Driven Life, presented lessons learned from that project in a network marketing how-to book, PyroMarketing. Zondervan, an Evangelical Christian Bible publisher, had issued Mr. Warren's book and planned to publish Mr. Stielstra's. But before the release of PyroMarketing, Mr. Warren pressured Zondervan to censor all references to his book, because he was concerned that it would make people think his phenomenal success was driven primarily by network marketing techniques.
Mr. Warren later relented, and HarperBusiness published PyroMarketing in September 2005 after making certain changes. However, Mr. Warren emphasized, "The worldwide spread of the purpose-driven message had nothing to do with marketing or merchandising. Instead it was the result of God's supernatural and sovereign plan, which no one anticipated."
Mr. Stielstra has broken down this "supernatural and sovereign plan" into four easy steps that treat converts as customers and customers as evangelists.

PyroMarketing: The Four Step Strategy To Ignite Customer Evangelists and Keep Them for Life reveals the network marketing strategy that made The Purpose Driven Life one of the best selling hardcover books in American history by using a fire metaphor that involves four steps:
(1) Gather the driest tinder - people most willing to buy your product (for example, mega-church members);
(2) Touch it with a match - give people a free preview of your product (for example, Left Behind Games is distributing "presale" DVDs through pastoral networks);
(3) Fan the flames - for example, Mr. Warren sold the first 400,000 copies of The Purpose-Driven Life for $7 each to ministers and churchgoers. They formed study groups, which drove up sales of the hardbacks at some $20 a pop.
(4) Save the coals - keep a database of your customers, so you don't have to start again from scratch. For example, Left Behind Games told the Los Angeles Times that it plans to distribute 1 million copies of its violent video game through churches nationwide.
Will the video game produced by the corporation which Mr. Carver is advising wind up in the same distribution channels - global pastoral networks and mega-churches -- that he and Mr. Warren built, primed, and tracked in massive databases?

The 'Purpose-Driven Operating Chip'
On December 24, 2005, The Economist published "Churches as Businesses: Jesus, CEO," an indepth analysis of how mega-churches are borrowing management and marketing techniques from the corporate world. According to this special report, "Rick Warren has inserted his 'purpose-driven operating chip' into churches in 120 countries around the world." He does so, because Mr. Drucker taught him that the way to systematically transform whole societies is by forming strategic partnerships between churches, corporations, and governments. This systemic management and marketing approach has built Mr. Warren's global empire.
To assist in building that empire, he looks for opportunities to form strategic alliances and cross-promote his brand. For example, he's now got a quote from the Purpose Driven Life on Starbucks coffee cups. That did not just happen without his awareness and permission. In fact, he planned it: he submitted the quote to Starbucks and suggested that they run with it. Hey, nothing wrong with that: it's a win-win for the corporation and the church, in terms of "endorsement by association." (Technically, Starbucks notes that the quotes do not necessarily reflect their corporate viewpoints. However, each party to the transaction hopes that some of the goodwill and chocolately goodness of the other party will rub off on them.) Strategic business alliances are about more than quips on coffee cups. The Purpose Driven Church even created a web presence so that people reading the cups could get to know more online, and eventually maybe come into the fold. This is long-term strategic thinking, evincing an awareness of how to use popular culture in marketing an empire. It is multi-layered; each piece is carefully thought out, and honed to work with the other pieces of the strategy.
So now Mr. Warren is planting the seeds of a corporate-friendly Christianized state in Rwanda, whose president has vowed that his genocide-torn country will now become the world's first "purpose driven nation." Yet the same management systems and marketing practices could be put to use in any country or corporation where Mr. Warren's mega-church chooses to make inroads. The techniques of market manipulation are transferable, just like an Intel chip.
And what exactly does Mr. Warren mean by "purpose-driven operating chip"? The Economist reports:
Rick Warren likens his "purpose-driven formula" to an Intel operating chip that can be inserted into the motherboard of any church -- and points out that there are more than 30,000 "purpose-driven" churches. Mr Warren has also set up a website, pastors.com, that gives 100,000 pastors access to e-mail forums, prayer sites and pre-cooked sermons, including over 20-years-worth of Mr. Warren's own.Indeed, in a nice reversal businesses have also started to learn from the churches. The late Peter Drucker pointed out that these churches have several lessons to teach mainline businesses. They are excellent at motivating their employees and volunteers, and at transforming volunteers from well-meaning amateurs into disciplined professionals. The best churches (like some of the most notorious cults) have discovered the secret of low-cost and self-sustaining growth: transforming seekers into evangelicals who will then go out and recruit more seekers.
For pastors who view themselves as entrepreneurs, and manage their flocks as growth opportunities, the Great Commission means great profits. There's nothing necessarily wrong with a corporation making profits, and there's nothing wrong with a prophet making a study of modern management and network marketing practices. But since Mr. Warren has built an empire by forming strategic partnerships between business and ministerial interests, he should take care who invokes the name brand of his Purpose Driven Church. Mr. Warren does not have to explicitly endorse or be involved in the production and marketing of Left Behind: Eternal Forces in order to be held accountable for allowing his name brand to be used in the selling of this antisocial product. He is Mr. Carver's pastor as well as his boss. So where's the accountability?
by Jonathan Hutson on Thu Jun 01, 2006

Thank you very much for noting this
Personally, I am extremely gratified that someone is finally noting that even in "tame" circles--like Rick Warren's--spiritual-warfare theology and "corporate churches" are being promoted.
One of the associations Rick Warren has that is of particularly grave concern to me is the links between him and Paul Yonggi Cho (nee David Yonggi Cho).
Cho, for those who aren't familiar (and most of you won't be unless you are a walkaway from some of the most spiritually abusive segments of the dominionist movement), is the head of Yoido Full Gospel Church--an extremely large Assemblies of God church in Seoul, South Korea (and with multiple "satellite" congregations throughout South Korea) that qualifies as the world's largest megachurch and (if its satellite congregations are counted) quite possibly the largest single congregation of any church; the church has claimed quite literally three-fourths of a million people in South Korea as members, and effectively is the Assemblies of God in that country for all intents and purposes. His megachurch empire started a scant ten years after the Assemblies entered Korea, so he is a prime study on how the Assemblies actively exports dominionism worldwide.
Cho is the inventor of possibly one of the most spiritually abusive tactics ever devised--the "cell church" or "shepherding group", which has been the primary method in which his church has grown exponentially. (Of note, it was originally invented as a way to keep control over the huge congregation.) Cho is also, very much, a promoter of dominion theology and particularly "name it and claim it"; Cho has had links with the Assemblies frontgroup Full Gospel Businessmen's Fellowship International which has historically been a major force in promotion of dominionism both here and abroad, and a profile at Rick Ross Institute notes that he has bastardised concepts from traditional Korean shamanism in almost identical fashion to that of the Moonies. He has also, by his own admission, used tactics based on those used by Soka Gakkai--a "Buddhist-based" highly abusive coercive religious group that is almost universally considered cultic and possibly violated law in obtaining confidential NCIC records for purposes of "dead-agenting" critics and which uses prayers as a form of cursing mainstream Buddhist leaders in Japan, has in general engaged in extremely unethical behaviour and whose members have even literally attempted to torch the temples of mainstream Buddhist churches.
It is, in fact, probably not a major exaggeration to state that Cho has been responsible for the increasing rate that the Assemblies of God has gone hard-dominionist worldwide; in fact, in 1992, he was elected head of the World Assemblies of God Council (the group overseeing all Assemblies of God churches worldwide)--the exact period when "Third Wave" pentecostalism (such as promoted in Brownsville Assemblies of God during the "Pensacola Revival") and its associated spiritual-warfare movements were embraced officially as a "move of the spirit" by the American Assemblies of God headquarters.
It should be noted that this is not the first time Cho has tried to breed the "Pensacola Madness", though. Part of the reason I am all too aware is that the Assemblies of God church I am a walkaway from was the first documented church in the US where Cho predicted, and was trying to encourage, "Brownsville"-style revivals:
It is interesting how a claim regarding a prophecy attributed to Korean Pastor Cho changed three times, each time becoming more specific until it identified Pensacola as the city where a "great end-time revival" would break out and spread throughout the world. Actually, I had heard of that prophecy years before when we lived in Kentucky, and there was speculation that Evangel Tabernacle would be the church where it was to start. The prophecy didn't change . . . the telling of it did.
(In fact, the church I'm a walkaway from pretty much was one of the first "Third Wave" churches in the US, a full thirty years before Brownsville's "revival".)Another article (which notes that the church I am a walkaway from was the first in North America targeted by Cho) also notes that between the time the church I left was targeted and Brownsville was targeted that he claimed the next "outpouring" would be in Canada--at the Toronto Airport Fellowship, a Vineyard church often credited for "Third Wave" pentecostalism and its associated spiritual warfare movements.
Sadly, the rampant spiritual abuse I have reported as a survivor of "Third Wave Madness" is all too typical in the "Third Wave" churches--in fact, the whole "Third Wave" is increasingly regarded as spiritually abusive per se, and some of its core doctrines are frighteningly similar to those in Scientology.
Not only did Cho devise "Third Wave" pentecostalism, he in fact invented many of the tactics that are used by "spiritual warfare" groups--including "prayer gangs", "territorial marking" with Wesson oil, etc. and can in fact be credited with much of the dominionist "spiritual warfare" movement's invention and popularising.
Of interesting note, Cho has attempted to promote dominionist movements in South Korea itself and has multiple links to dominionist groups here in the States; in addition to the FGBMFI and other links, he's also linked to quite possibly one of the most spiritually abusive of the Assemblies frontgroups, "Youth With A Mission" (which is almost universally considered by exit counselors as cultic, and which has multiple links to dominionism here).
Quite obvious why I consider anyone and anything to do with Cho as being Bad News.
And the links between Cho and Warren are, sadly, extensive indeed. Deception In The Church and Let Us Reason document this:
Warren was a key speaker at Yonggi Cho's church growth conference in 1997. Cho is known to mix occult concepts with Christian teaching. He is especially known for his word faith & visualization techniques. Warren was also a key speaker at Schuller's Institute for Successful Church Leadership.David Cho's connection to Robert Schuller is evident. Robert Schuller writes in the foreword to Yonggi Cho's book, The Fourth Dimension: "I discovered the reality of that dynamic dimension in prayer that comes through visualizing.... Don't try to understand it. Just start to enjoy it! It's true. It works. I tried it."
To say Cho is promoting mysticism would be an understatement. He says if Buddhists and Yoga practitioners can accomplish their objectives through fourth dimensional powers, then Christians should be able to accomplish much more by using the same means. (Paul Yonggi Cho, The Fourth Dimension, vol. 1, 1979, pp.37, 41) "You create the presence of Jesus with your mouth... He is bound by your lips and by your words... Remember that Christ is depending upon you and your spoken word to release His presence." (Ibid., 83)
In Warren's interview with Cho we can see his respect for him.
Warren: Do you think American churches should be more open to the prayer for miracles?Cho: I feel that the most American churches really don't believe in the miracles of God. The church is getting very institutionalized. But I tell you that by a new anointing the American church would start to believe the miracle of the nation of God's hand."
Warren: Can you please pray a prayer of blessing to the pastors that are reading this? (Rick Warren And David Yonggi Cho Talk About Using The Internet by Tim Bednar July 25, 2003) (originally from e-church.com
More damningly, a dominionist publication has interviewed Cho wherein the latter admits links with Rick Warren; this same publication has an article by Rick Warren where he quotes Cho directly in admitting both have possibly plaigarised sections of sermons from Billy Graham and a pastor of a Dallas, TX church:
There has been much talk in recent years on blogs and Web sites about how much of other people's sermons is appropriate to incorporate into your own messages. When does it get to the point of "plagiarism"? A friend of mine in Cincinnati was recently dismissed by his church's board of trustees because of this. As I predicted to that board of trustees, the size of that thriving church has been cut in half, the momentum they had been experiencing has gone away, and they are in big financial trouble. What a needless waste of God's momentum that had been resting upon them.At a seminar, Dr. Cho, pastor of the world's largest church in Korea, was asked during a question and answer time, "How do you put your weekly messages together? They are so powerful!" He said, "Honestly, I have never given an original message in all my years of ministry here at Yoido Church. Each week, I preach word-for-word messages from either Billy Graham or W.A. Criswell from Dallas First Baptist Church. I can't afford to not have a home run each weekend when we gather. I don't trust my own ability to give completely original messages." Wow!
Warren was also a speaker at the Azusa Street Centennial (held to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Azusa Street Revival, generally held as the "birth" of pentecostalism including the Assemblies of God) and reportedly shared the stage with Cho.Warren and Cho also have joined forces in promoting megachurches via the Internet including setting up "cell churches" online (and networking fellow dominionists):
Churches need to stop building bigger buildings and start relying more on the Internet, say two leading pastors in the church growth movement. David Yonggi Cho, pastor of the 750,000-member Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul, South Korea, and Rick Warren, pastor of the 15,000-member Saddleback Valley Community Church, say the Internet is a "next generation strategy" that will connect decentralized home groups to the larger church body.The two met recently in California to discuss church growth strategies for the 21st century, and their conclusion was -- stop building buildings and use that money for world missions. The interview appears in the July 25 issue of Rick Warren's Ministry Toolbox, a free, e-mail newsletter available from the Web site http://www.pastors.com/.
With 20,000 new converts a year, Cho says there is no way his church can match buildings to membership and so he's encouraging younger converts to stay at home and worship through the Internet.
"We are so jammed that we have no way to keep growing except by going to cyberspace," says Cho. He says he tells young people, "Don't come to church, just stay home and get your teaching through the Internet." These long-distance members give regular feedback on the sermons and services, and they can give their tithe through the Internet, and they stay physically connected to the larger body through small study groups.
Rick Warren, the author of "The Purpose Driven Church," adds, "Even if we had all the buildings we needed, one question is whether or not the next generation wants to worship in huge buildings." He says Saddleback is experimenting with live Internet services on the weekends and has already set up a GroupNet to help small groups stay connected to each other.
Cho's church offers live services over the Internet, including Sunday and Wednesday. "But also, when I want to give special instructions or teaching to the cell groups," says Cho, "then I will teach it through the Internet to the cells and apartments."
"It is silly to build larger and larger church buildings," says Cho. "It is silly to spend more money on branch church buildings! You'll never have enough. I really believe this, and I have already announced to my people and ministers that the next step is to go into total cyberspace ministry because it is a real waste of money to build larger buildings." Warren adds, "No matter how much land you have, it eventually fills up.
Besides, just think of that money and how it could be used for missions. Our goal is to decentralize -- to send our church members out for ministry into their neighborhoods." Regarding the traditional need for buildings, Warren cites Saddleback's legacy: "We wanted to prove to the world that you don't have to have a building to grow a church. We were running over 10,000 in attendance before we built our first building. So we know how to grow and minister without buildings. What we're trying to learn now is how to do it through the Internet -- into the homes."(It is worth noting--on a rather frightening note, at that--that many estimates have South Korea as the world's most "wired" nation, especially in regards to broadband access.)Especially damning, Cho admits on his own website the links between him and Warren and cross-promotion of each other:
Prayer is the only way to survive!Rev. Rick Warren of Saddleback Church in the USA came to see Dr. Cho who was visiting Los Angeles for the Spiritual Renewal Conference 2001 at Sarang Community Church in Los Angeles (Rev. Jung Hyun Oh). While Dr. Cho was talking to him, he urged the churches in the USA to pray. Dr. Cho emphasized prayer for the survival of the churches in the USA. He further said that leaders should listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit and find out the methods of drawing young people into the Church, such as using the Internet.(FWIW, if people want, I can actually make this part of a dedicated post. This info REALLY needs to be brought out more in the open.) by dogemperor on Thu Jun 01, 2006