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Rick Warren, whether he realizes it or not, has
utilized pagan and occult-influenced psychological theory to help
formulate the Personality Theory section of his SHAPE program. Though we
have no evidence that it
is a calculated act by Warren, we do believe that his refusal to
ground his teachings solely on Scripture has led to his misguided
involvement with fashionable philosophies of pagan origin.
The charts at the bottom of this page have been created to give a quick overview
of the clear and observable connection of the SHAPE personality
theory program to historic pagan thought and practice. For the
sake of expediency, we have only gone back to second century
Greece to show the striking similarities between the pagan
teachings of Galen, Swiss psychologist Carl Jung, and Rick Warren’s personality
assessment in SHAPE.
 To truly see the original roots of paganism, however, one would
have to go all the way back through history to Adam’s fall when
man first rebelled against the revelation of the one true God and
fell into idolatry. As a deliberate religious system, paganism
found its true birth in the Egyptian and Babylonian kingdoms
through the development of astrology and other manmade
philosophies. As a polytheistic nation, the Babylonians saw the
skies as incorporating the language of their gods. Through the
observations of celestial forces, they attempted to read omens and
predict future events, like famine and war, that would affect
their people.
As centuries
passed and kingdoms came and went, pagan astrology
spread to Persia and points beyond, and was eventually embraced by
the Greeks. During this Hellenistic period, astrology was molded
to fit more closely with Greek philosophy and religion. Thus,
astrology was no longer used to predict the fate of the nation, as
the Babylonians used it, but was adopted for divining more
intimate and personal information. Much of the philosophical
underpinnings of historic astrology were used to create the Greek
sciences that pertained to the body and soul, like psychology,
anatomy and pharmacology.
It was on this pagan foundation that Galen of Pergamum
developed his teachings on the four temperaments, or humors, for
studying and understanding the construct of the body and soul.
(The Galenic temperaments, in fact, are the source for some of
Warren’s teaching on personality theory in ministry.) Galen
based his beliefs on the earlier work of Empedocles and
Hippocrates. Empedocles believed the universe was made up of four
elements: fire, air, earth and water, with each having its own god
or goddess. Hippocrates, known as the Father of Medicine, believed
that these four elements had four corresponding body fluids or “humors.”
These were defined as blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm;
each one designating personality types. Galen took this premise
and further developed the temperament theory into the four
categories of melancholic, phlegmatic, sanguine, and choleric.
It
is no coincidence, perhaps, that Galen was from Pergamum, a city
mentioned by Jesus Christ in Revelation (Rev. 2:12-17). Pergamum
was the renowned site of the temple of Asclepius, the Greek god of
healing. In his early formative years, Galen was an attendant in
that pagan temple and was schooled there in the knowledge of Greek
medicine.
 People from all over the Roman empire came to seek healing in
the temple of Asclepius: the shrine area was inhabited by
thousands of non-poisonous snakes that were believed to bring
healing to those who were touched by them. To the Greeks and
Romans, medicine and science were worshipped as gifts from the
gods, and the symbol of this worship was the serpent. The “caduceus,”
the staff entwined with a snake, was the healing scepter of the
god Asclepius, and is still used as the preeminent symbol of the
medical arts community today. (The engraving on the left shows the
god Hermes and a merchant approaching Asclepius, who is holding
his large caduceus.)
Indeed, Pergamum, Galen’s hometown, was the center of many
pagan cults. It was the seat of Babylonian sun worship, and home
to many splendid pagan statues and temples to nature and the gods,
most notably Zeus. For this reason, Jesus called Pergamum the
abode of “Satan’s throne” (Rev. 2:13).
Clearly the religious atmosphere in Pergamum was not conducive
to the Christian life, and as a result, the church in that city
was sharply admonished by Christ for compromising itself with her
surrounding pagan culture. In reaction to this compromise, Christ
corrected them by bearing the “sharp sword with two edges,”
which is symbolic of the penetrating word of God that is the “discerner
of the thoughts and intents of the heart,” and from which
nothing in creation is hidden (Hebrews 4:12-13).
Sadly, like the church at Pergamum, Warren has seen fit to
compromise his biblical principles with the surrounding secular
culture of our day. Whether Warren devotees want to admit it or
not, Warren’s SHAPE program for personality classification is
directly tied to Galen’s (and Jung’s) pagan teachings on
temperament and psychological typology. The facts seem to show
that Warren has compromised his Christian beliefs with the ways of
the pagan world. Therefore, it would do well for Warren and his
followers to heed Christ’s eternal admonition for the churches
to ground their faith in the “two-edged sword” of God’s
word, see the error of their ways, and not be “overcome” by
the current paganism in our midst.
For any Christian who defends Warren’s approach and sees no
harm in applying Greek or Jungian psychological typology to their
lives, you should be informed of the blatant pagan origins of
these manmade theories. Not all “truth” is God’s truth,
despite the prevalent sentiment of evangelical circles to profess such an idea. Just as
Paul wisely resisted the temptation to apply Greek philosophy to
the Christian faith in his day, so, too, should contemporary
Christian leaders be wary of using the world’s “wisdom” as a
proper tool to build up the body of Christ. As Paul taught us, “Do
not be unequally yoked with unbelievers.”
The following charts
will make it all too clear that these personality and
psychological theories advocated by Warren not only contradict
Scripture, but they are based on occult divination and satanic
deception.
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