Burned-Over District: Mr. Robert Schuller and Crystal Cathedral

An excellent article by Mr. (Rev. Dr.) Kim Riddlebarger on Mr. Robert Schuller.

The OC -- A New Burned-Over District? Part Four -- Robert Schuller and the Crystal Cathedral

Tuesday, July 23, 2013 at 07:51AM

 

Calvary Chapel may have created most of the Christian "buzz" in the OC, but surely the OC's most famous church is Robert Schuller's Crystal Cathedral.  The sheer scale and grandeur of the Cathedral dominates the heart of the OC.  In an area with few tall buildings, the Crystal Cathedral is clearly visible from three of the freeways which pass through central Orange County.

In one sense, the Crystal Cathedral and Robert Schuller were not really part of the OC "buzz."  Schuller's message of "self-esteem," and the Cathedral's highbrow manner of worship, were much more typical of the Protestant mainline than the evangelical and charismatic churches which did generate local buzz.  But if you had family coming to town from the Midwest or the East Coast, they wanted to see the Crystal Cathedral and they knew all about Robert Schuller, even if they had never heard of the two "Chucks" (Smith or Swindoll) who were much more appreciated by the local evangelicals.

Robert Schuller first arrived in the OC shortly after I did (1955).  He came by car, I came by stork.  He began preaching to people in their cars from the roof of the snack bar of the Orange Drive-In theater.  The place was soon packed.  Schuller went on to build the Tower of Hope in 1968, and by 1970, Schuller's "Hour of Power" was the most popular religious broadcast in the United States.  In 1978, work began on the now world famous glass cathedral.  It was the perfect stage for Schuller's psychologized message.  I'll bet that the Hour of Power brought more people to Southern California than anything but the Rose Parade.  The Cathedral was the perfect OC showcase.  His was the perfect message for an affluent middle class growing tired of their local stucco church, boring sermons, and "Erma," the kindly but elderly organist attempting to play the offertory correctly just one time before going to glory.




Schuller's pulpit (or better "stage") was turned over to countless celebrities ranging from Dodger manager Tommy Lasorda to former Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev, all of whom were willing to endorse Schuller's non-gospel of "Possibility Thinking."  The Cathedral was the stage for the elaborate pageants, "the Glory of Christmas" and the "Glory of Easter."  Ironically, it was the church's inability to pay the vendors and animal handlers which led to the local bankruptcy courts.  The Cathedral was also home to a magnificent 16,000 pipe Ruffatti organ capably manned for many years by Frederick Swann.  Famed pianist Roger Williams played there for thirty years.  The contrast between the worship services of the Crystal Cathedral and the CCM of Calvary Chapel could not be greater!  One local wag spoke of the difference between the two churches as the "Jesus People versus the Blue Hairs."  Maybe the real battle of style was more like OP versus Amway. 

For more in this excellent article, see:  http://kimriddlebarger.squarespace.com/the-latest-post/2013/7/23/the-oc-a-new-burned-over-district-part-four-robert-schuller.html#comments

 

Evangelical Loons: Billy Graham, Schuller, & Riccy Warren

Silva, an American Anabaptist, calls out Graham, Schuller, Rick Warren and other ignorant inclusivists of small intellectual, confessional, historical or biblical attainments.  Silva has an argument, although he, himself, is an Anabaptist with problems. Here's Silva.

http://apprising.org/2012/05/08/john-macarthur-on-roman-catholicism-billy-graham-and-evangelical-inclusivism/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+apprising%2F2+%28Apprising+Ministries%29

JOHN MACARTHUR ON ROMAN CATHOLICISM, BILLY GRAHAM, AND “EVANGELICAL” INCLUSIVISM

By Ken Silva pastor-teacher on May 8, 2012 in AM Missives, Current Issues, Features

 

Apprising Ministries brings you the audio clip below where Dr. John MacArthur gives some background on the current apostasy in which evangelicals are now accepting apostate Roman Catholicism as genuine Christianity. He also quotes from the transcript of an appearance by Billy Graham on Hour of Power with Robert Schuller.

This is program #1426 entitled Say “Yes” To Possibility Thinking, which was originally broadcast May 31, 1997:

Schuller: Tell me, what do you think is the future of Christianity?
Graham: Well, Christianity and being a true believer–you know, I think there’s the Body of Christ. This comes from all the Christian groups around the world, outside the Christian groups. I think everybody that loves Christ, or knows Christ, whether they’re conscious of it or not, they’re members of the Body of Christ. And I don’t think that we’re going to see a great sweeping revival, that will turn the whole world to Christ at any time. I think James answered that, the Apostle James in the first council in Jerusalem, when he said that God’s purpose for this age is to call out a people for His name.

And that’s what God is doing today, He’s calling people out of the world for His name, whether they come from the Muslim world, or the Buddhist world, or the Christian world or the non-believing world, they are members of the Body of Christ because they’ve been called by God. They may not even know the name of Jesus but they know in their hearts that they need something that they don’t have, and they turn to the only light that they have, and I think that they are saved, and that they’re going to be with us in heaven.

Schuller: What, what I hear you saying that it’s possible for Jesus Christ to come into human hearts and soul and life, even if they’ve been born in darkness and have never had exposure to the Bible. Is that a correct interpretation of what you’re saying?

Graham: Yes, it is, because I believe that. I’ve met people in various parts of the world in tribal situations, that they have never seen a Bible or heard about a Bible, and never heard of Jesus, but they’ve believed in their hearts that there was a God, and they’ve tried to live a life that was quite apart from the surrounding community in which they lived.

Schuller: I’m so thrilled to hear you say this. There’s a wideness in God’s mercy.

Graham: There is. There definitely is.

Below is the segment with Billy Graham and his friend Robert Schuller referenced above. See it for yourself:

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00:56

 

Well, the sad fact is this “Evangelical” Inclusivism is Older Than You Think. And it’s also the root rot of the Church Growth Movement as evidenced e.g. by sinful Southern Baptist ecumenicist Rick Warren and his Emergent counterpart Living Spiritual Teacher and EC guru Brian McLaren who’re following Graham’s footsteps.

For example, Warren has said, “It really doesn’t matter your denomination, folks. We’re all on the same team if you love Jesus.”[1] And McLaren has opined that if people are “happy being Muslim, or Buddhist or Jewish or atheist,” he doesn’t think it’s right to try to “shoe-horn them out of their religion” into Christianity.[2]

That’s why John MacArthur is dead-on-target in what he says about this evangelical inclusivism below:

___________________________________________________________________________
End notes:

[1] http://bit.ly/L3VkR7, accessed 5/8/12.

[2] http://bit.ly/IWeMmq, accessed 5/8/12.

Crystal Cathedral Continues Without Schuller, Senior Pastor

CBN is carrying the following story at:  http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2012/March/Crystal-Cathedral-Relocates-Rev-Schuller-Resigns/.  Years back, Schuller Sr. threw his son, Schuller Jr., out.  The son was a graduate of Fuller Seminary and began preaching the Gospel.  People were being converted and baptized, a new development for the Cathedral.  Senior tossed Junior out and Junior started his own work.  Then, Senior's other offspring, Carol, took over as the Senior Minister.  The Cathedral moved to the "Praise Band" type-raucus.  Then, the Cathedral went through Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings with the Romanist Diocese buying the property.  Then, these developments.  Senior's much lauded "Hour of Power" and all the "positive thinking" messages have become Senior's own personal "Hour of Disempowerment" and is cause for much of "his own" negative thinking.  We dub Senior's entire effort as the "Cathedral of Theological Irrelevance," suitable only for the theologically illiterate.  They had some good music, but the sermons suited the "Goats" and offered no depth, weight or merit.  Here's the CBN story below.

Robert Schuller, RCA Churchman, Former Pastor of Crystal Cathedral.

Despite recent disagreements between its Board of Directors and the family of ministry founder Rev. Robert H. Schuller, worship services will continue every Sunday at Crystal Cathedral, the church clarified Wednesday.

Crystal Cathedral Senior Pastor Sheila Schuller Coleman said March 10 that she will be resigning from the ministry to start a new church, Hope Center of Christ.

Also Saturday, founder Robert H. Schuller and his wife, Arvella, announced they were stepping down from the church board.

The couple's daughter, Carol Schuller Milner, explained that her parents have been embroiled in a legal conflict with the board over copyright infringement and back payment for services.

With that shake up, and ongoing financial problems, some wondered about the ministry's future.

But the board assured this past Sunday that services would continue at the iconic glass-walled sanctuary each week.

“We invite everyone to join us next Sunday for worship in the Crystal Cathedral,” John Charles, chairman of the Crystal Cathedral Ministries’ Board of Directors, said in a statement March 13.

He added that the ministry has received "encouragement from numerous members of the congregation" about the decision to "return to the traditional worship style on which the ministry was founded.”

Last week, the Crystal Cathedral also fired Schuller's daughter, Gretcher Penner, producer of the "Hour of Power," and her husband Jim Penner, the show's executive producer.

Church officials explained the move was part of an effort to revamp the television program, which reached millions of American viewers on a weekly basis.

Crystal Cathedral confirmed in Tuesday's statement that the program would continue to air "both domestically and internationally."

The Schullers had made numerous offers to settle their claims, but the board informed the couple that they "had no interest in continuing their dialogue."

"We cannot continue to serve on the Board in what has become an adversarial and negative atmosphere, especially since it now seems that it will not be ending anytime soon," Arvella Schuller said Saturday in response to the board's decision.

"We were optimistic that a solution was close at hand which would be mutually beneficial to the Schullers and the ministry," she added.

The changes come as little surprise to those familiar with the ministry's drawn out financial and legal struggles.

Two years after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the main campus in Garden Grove, Calif., is now owned by Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange County.

"No matter what, God is still God," Arvella Schuller said. "No matter what, God is still a good God. God loves you and so do I."